New Life, New Beginnings
by BrooksBabe
Summary: UPDATED! CHAPTER 7 NOW UP! This is a story. A story about a girl who's been living on her own for a short time, but always thinking she was the only one of her kind. Now that she is no longer accepted by normal society, she wonders if she must continue li
1. New Life, New Beginnings: Chapter 1

Gargoyles aren't mine. If they were, I'd be sitting in a mansion right now, being fed grapes by my servants. Disney owns Gargoyles. I own Crystal, and Mike, and Sophia, and all those other characters that were never used in the show.

**New Life, New Beginnings**

**February 2005**

She landed atop the tower and looked over her city. Well, it wasn't really her city, she had just been born here. But ever since that one fateful night, the city had become more and more a home to her. If she could really call it a home. There was only one place she had been able to call home in her life, and that had been ripped away from her. Her parents had been victims of a drunk driver two years ago when they were driving back home from a play in the city. Being an only child, nearly everything had been left to her in their wills, including the house, but such a large house was not meant to be occupied by one person. Over time, she had spent less and less time there, only to use it when she needed food, and for her day sleep.

She sighed and pushed her hair away from her face. The only real good thing that had happened since her change was that she had extremely supportive friends. Not including her one friend who witnessed her transformation, she had made it seem as if she had vanished from the face of the earth to everyone. When she had come out of her three month hiding, she was relieved when every one of her friends had stuck by her, and all had kept her secret.

As she gazed over the city, memories of her life as a human came flooding back; the strongest of those memories being the night of her transformation.

* * *

**June 2003**

It was the night of her best friend's university graduation, the girl that, over time, had come to be the little sister she never had. She wasn't in the best of moods, her parents having been killed only three months ago. But she had promised her friend years ago that no matter what, she was going to her graduation. And so here she was, enjoying the night as much as she emotionally could, while trying to ignore the pain in her shoulder blades and tailbone. It had flared up every night for the past month, and there wasn't a painkiller in the world that could help her. But tonight, the pain was almost unbearable. She was barely able to walk, and it was near impossible to move her arms. Oh how she wished this night would just come to an end.

"Crystal!" the calling of her name snapped her out of her thoughts. At least now she had something to help take her mind off the pain. She looked around for who was calling her, and saw the girl of the hour making her way towards her. "Crys, you made it!"

"Of course I did. I wouldn't miss this for the world." she moved to hug her, but the pain brought it to a halt.

"I told you not to come if the pain got to be too much."

She forced herself to smile. "Don't worry about it Soph, I just took some painkillers. I'll be fine soon enough."

Sophia was not one to be taken for a fool. A Muslim with long dark brown hair, kind brown eyes, and short stature, she was a sight for sore eyes. She crossed her arms and gave Crystal a look that said 'I don't believe you.'

"Seriously, I'm fine. Now isn't it time for you to get your diploma?"

Crystal found out the hard way that she wasn't able to sit without pain shooting through her body, so for the entire ceremony, she stood by the doorway. It was far from how she expected the night to go, but she was happy just to be there. By the end of the ceremony, she was barely able to stand, the pain becoming unbearable. Seeing her friend in pain, Sophia ran over to her, and helped her to stand.

"Crys, are you all right?"

She could only shake her head in response. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth, she would scream from the pain.

Not knowing what to do, Sophia led her to the washroom and slid the lock into place. As soon as she had, Crystal bent over, screaming in pain.

**Crystal's POV**

The pain was excruciating. Every bone in my body now ached and felt as if they were rearranging themselves. It only lasted for about five minutes, but it felt much longer than that. When it was over, I fell to my knees and opened my eyes. I looked at Sophia, and saw her staring at me.

"What? What is it?" she simply pointed to the mirror. As soon as I stood up, I knew something was different; my centre of balance was off, and for some reason, I was standing on the balls of my feet. I looked down, and nearly fainted. My shoes were broken, and instead of five-toed human feet, there were larger, arched, three-toed ones. I looked into the mirror, and stared, wide-eyed, at the reflection. My ears were now pointed, and I had four horns coming out of my forehead. The two centre ones were longer, curving over my head and pointing back, while the two outside ones were curvier, and pointing up. I moved to touch them, when I noticed I only had four fingers on each hand, with long hard claws. I even had spurs on my elbows. But that was nothing compared to the shock of seeing wings. They were a tan colour, close to that of my skin. There were small, three-fingered claws atop them, and they had a sort of bat-glider type shape. Lucky for me I went against wearing a dress and opted for an elegant tube top and skirt ensemble, otherwise I'd be short one dress. I peered into the mirror and noticed I no longer had eyebrows, and instead had a bony ridge. My hair was still black, but my natural red highlights were more visible. I was relieved to see that my eyes hadn't changed colour: hazel with specks of red within them. I took a step back and stepped on something, sending pain through whatever it was I stepped on. I lifted up my skirt, and there, looking like a snake, was a tail. My tail. I even had spurs on my knees.

**Universal view**

"Crystal? Is that… are you okay?"

"Define okay. I mean, look at me Sophi! I'm not even human anymore!" she sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you."

"Hey, it's alright. You're handling this better than I would."

"What am I gonna do? My life is ruined! I don't even know what I am!"

"Hey, don't worry about it." she went and gave Crystal a half hug. "We'll get through this."

* * *

Sophia was one of the few people who stuck by her. She had gone to what remained of her family for help, and to find out why she had changed, but they turned her away. Only her cousin had stuck around, helping her out on the inside, but never being able to find out why she had become this… this…

"Two damn years and I still don't know what the hell I am." she had heard reports coming out of New York; she had even seen them on television. There was a strong resemblance between them and her, so did that make her a gargoyle? According to the papers and internet she was. All her life, she was naturally inclined to protect those she cared about. After her transformation, that urge had only become stronger, and because of that, she had begun to protect those in the city. Other than those times, she had managed to keep herself hidden from view. But there was always that one person who would look up and see her.

"What does it matter? What are the chances of someone like me finding out I'm here."

**Across the border…**

"Hey Brooklyn, come look at this."

The crimson gargoyle walked over to his smaller brother who, again, was surfing the internet. "What is it Lex?"

"There's been a gargoyle sighting, in Toronto."

Brooklyn was sceptical. "You sure this isn't some kind of hoax?"

The green gargoyle shook his head. "No hoax. These reports are coming from acclaimed newspapers. They've even given her the name 'Guardian Degel.'"

"Degel? What's a degel? And how do you know it's a she?"

"It's a mix of the words demon and angel. And it's easy to tell she's a she." he pulled up a picture from the newspaper. It was easy to see the gargoyle had a feminine figure. "That's how."

He nodded. "We better tell Goliath about this."

"It was good that you brought this to my attention you two. Brooklyn, what do you propose should be done?"

"I think we should go and see if this gargoyle does exist. And it'd be good to have another ally." what he said was no word of a lie, but he also had his own motives for wanting to go on this trek.

"Agreed. You two and Bronx will travel to this city and find this gargoyle. See if Xanatos can provide a helicopter. I want you three there as soon as possible."

"Please tell me as to why we had to bring **Bronx** with us?" They had been searching the city for two hours, and Brooklyn had been given the task of carrying Bronx.

"If it'll make you happy, we can land so you can take a break."

Brooklyn glared at his brother, and quickly landed on a nearby rooftop. He let Bronx down, and the beast immediately started sniffing around.

"You think she's been here?" asked Lex.

"It's her city. Who knows where she's been."

She had been sitting comfortably on a restaurant's rooftop, looking at the stars, when two figures flew above and past her. They had wings and a tail just like her.

"I wonder."

She followed them from a distance, careful to make sure they wouldn't be able to see her. When they landed on a rooftop, she quickly dropped down on the next building and watched them. She realized that there were actually three of them, but one was a sort of dog. It was actually kind of cute too. The other two were more like her. One was green, bald, and had webbed wings. The other one was red, had wings similar to hers, a beak, and really cool white hair. Before she knew it, the dog was looking straight at her, and barking. The other two looked in her direction, and she froze, mostly out of being found. When the red one picked up the dog, she ran for the other side of the building, but just before she reached the ledge, they dropped down in front of her. The dog walked up to her and began to sniff at her. Without warning, the dog jumped on her, knocking her to the ground and licking her face.

"Hey!" she said, laughing. "Get off me!"

"Bronx, get off her!" she felt a big weight being lifted off her, and soon was looking into the face of the red one. "Sorry about that. Are you alright?" he offered his hand to help her up, and she graciously took it.

Brooklyn tried his hardest not to stare at her, but he was failing miserably. With hair that reached the base of her tail, a white form-fitting tank top, and jeans that hugged her hips, she was quite a sight to behold.

"Hey, uh, no problem. Just gives me another reason to take a shower later." she couldn't explain why, but every time she looked at him, she could feel her cheeks start to get warm. "Who are you anyway? I've never seen you around here before."

"Well that's 'cause we're not from around here. We live in Manhattan. Oh, and my name's Lexington."

"You've already had the honour of meeting Bronx, and I'm Brooklyn."

"You're named after places in New York. So then, wouldn't that make you the Scottish band of gargoyles that were put under the sleep spell over a thousand years ago?"

"Yea, that would." said Lex. "But how did you know that?"

She shrugged. "I did a lot of reading back in… when I was younger. Things like myths and legends fascinated me." She mentally kicked herself. She had just met these two a few minutes ago, and she had almost told them that she was once human. ~Watch it girl.~ she thought. ~Who knows what they might do if they knew what you once were.~ which then brought a question to mind. "What are you, anyway?"

The two males shared a confused glance. "We're gargoyles, like you."

She looked at the small gargoyle. "Oh, so **that's** what I am. About time I found that out."

"You mean, you didn't know?" Brooklyn asked.

"How could I? I thought I was the only one. Sure, there were a million stories coming out of New York, but I was always a little sceptical."

Brooklyn nodded. "Well now that you know what you are, how about you let us know your name?"

"Oh, right. I'm Crystal." she looked out to the horizon, and then at her watch. Still another four hours before dawn. "Look, I gotta go. I'll see you guys after sunset." she turned around to leave, when she felt a hand grab her wrist. Sighing, she turned around to see that it was Brooklyn.

"Where are you going?"

"Home. I've got a long way to travel. Don't worry, it's safe to roost here for the day." she tried gently to get her arm back, but he wouldn't let go.

"So then why don't you stay here with us?" there was a twinge of hope and desperation in his voice.

"Because I've got things to do before the sun rises." she had just met the guy, and already he was becoming more annoying than a lost puppy. "So if you'll excuse me." she forcefully tore her wrist from his grasp, and leapt off the roof.

"You know, acting like that isn't going to improve any chance you might have with her."

"Bite me."

She didn't like the fact that she had to lie to get away, but it had gotten to the point that she had to. She had finally found out what she was, and had met others like her. So why wasn't she happy? It was good to know that even in this form, she was still attractive, but she found it a little odd to have a guy of another species hit on her. Since she didn't actually have anything to do, she decided to pay a visit to her friend Mike in his dorm room. They had been going to the same university, but due to her new circumstances, she had to drop out. Since his room was on the ninth floor, she latched herself onto the wall, and seeing that his light was on, knocked on the window. She only needed to wait about a minute before she heard the window being opened.

"Crystal, I'm a little surprised to see you here." he almost fit your stereotypical Italian physique. Short, black hair, brown eyes, the only thing that he didn't fit was he had a very good, quite muscular build.

"Who else would be knocking on your window? Is it all right if I come in?"

"Yea, sure. It's not like I'm doing anything important." he opened the window further, and stepped back so she could crawl in.

"I'll make it short if you promise to help me out."

He slumped into his chair and sighed. "Alright, I'm listening."

She sat on his bed and told him everything that had happened that night. She even caught herself when she realized she was going into too much detail when describing Brooklyn. She kept it as short as possible, knowing the sun was soon to rise, and he had classes in a matter of hours. "So, what should I do?"

He rubbed his chin. "From what you've said, they seem to be trustworthy, and you've always been a great judge of character. In the time I've known you, you've never been wrong about someone's personality and whatnot." he looked at her, and saw that what he was saying wasn't helping her. "Tell you what. How about you let me meet them? That way I can see them for myself, and you can decide on whether to befriend them based from my opinion. How's that sound?"

"That's a big help Mike, thanks." she stepped over to the window, and placed her foot on the sill. "Same place we always used to meet?"

"Same place."

She gave him a thanking nod before she crawled out the window, and glided back home.

That night when she awoke, she rushed through her nightly routine, made sure her cat had enough food for the night, and quickly made her way back to where she had left the trio of her kind. For some reason, she felt that was she was wearing before was no longer suitable, so she had changed into a tight fitting tan-coloured t-shirt that stopped at her ribs (it should have covered her belly, but she had a long stomach), with a plunging neckline, tight jeans that flared slightly at the bottom, and tied up from the back of her knees to the bottom. They were her favourite pair of jeans, and she didn't want to ruin them, but she knew that she would never revert back to her old form, so she had unwillingly made holes for her tail and knee spurs.

When she was just ten minutes away from the building, she began to get nervous, and she had absolutely no idea as to why. Just as she landed, she pushed those feelings aside. There was no way she was going to show weakness in front of those she barely knew.

Brooklyn's face brightened the instant he saw her. "You came back."

"Of course I did. Did you really think I'd miss the chance to see you guys again?" she saw that what she was wearing had caught his eye. She was not only flattered, but even began to blush.

Lex caught the look Brooklyn was giving Crystal, and shook his head. "So does this mean you're gonna hang out with us the whole night?"

"Of course, but first there's someone I want you guys to meet."

"Two nights in a row Crys. If I didn't know any better I'd swear you were spoiling me." Crystal wasted no time in getting the guys to the meeting place, not too far from the golfing range in the city. Before they had left, she had seen the look Brooklyn had on his face when he realized he would have to carry Bronx - again. Not wanting him to - well, suffer - through the flight, she offered to help carry him. What she didn't expect was the near-loving look she kept getting from him since then.

"Flattery will get you flattened." she went to give him a hug, and out of habit, he reached and slapped her butt. She quickly pulled back, and lightly slapped his chest. "Mike!"

He simply shrugged. "Couldn't help myself."

She smiled and shook her head. She did a quick introduction between the four, and was going to wander off, when she noticed the glare Brooklyn was giving Mike. Knowing something was going to happen, she stuck around. There was no way she was going to allow a new acquaintance to harm one of her best friends.

Four hours had gone by, and Crystal needed something to do, and soon. The boys had remained civil - to a certain degree. Mike and Lex had hit it off almost immediately. If she didn't know any better, she would say that those two had been lifelong friends. Brooklyn on the other hand, wasn't as kind. He was just one step short from being an interrogator. He had asked Mike questions about his personal life almost non-stop, and it was getting on her nerves. Brooklyn had no to reason to hate Mike, so why did he? She suddenly envied Bronx, knowing the gargoyle beast never had to worry about things like these.

In those few moments where she was lost in thought, she could feel herself becoming tense. She started paying attention to what was being said, and nearly went into shock. Mike was telling the guys of how the two of them had met. This was something she **really** didn't need. This was **not** how she wanted them to find out she was once human. She wasn't sure if she even **wanted** them to know she was once human.

"Uh, Mike?" she interrupted. "Can I speak to you for a minute?" she didn't even wait for him to reply, she just grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of earshot. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"What do you mean?"

"You can't tell them how we met!"

Mike looked confused. "Why not?"

"Because, **genius**, we met in high school. Remember?!"

"Yea, so?"

She was getting frustrated at his stupidity. "I haven't told them I was human before, and I'm not sure if I want them to know either."

It was like a light switched on in his head. "Oh, right. I almost forgot."

"Good to know I can trust you on these kind of things." she replied sarcastically. She pushed him back to the group. "Sorry about that, guys. Just had to check something."

"Is everything all right?" Brooklyn asked.

"Just fine Brook, just fine." she roughly patted Mike on the back.

"Ow, yea."

Lexington quickly started up another conversation with Mike, something which sounded a lot like techno babble, and in no time, both Crystal and Brooklyn were bored.

Knowing that this could go on for a while, Brooklyn walked up beside Crystal. "Hey, wanna go for a walk?"

Not wanting to die of boredom, "Yea sure. Anything to get away from," she waved her hand at the two geeks. "This."

They both had the same thought running through their minds. If they knew that they were going to be too shy to break the ice on the first time being alone together, they would have never gone for a walk. One of them needed to say something, and soon.

"So, uh… how long have you been living here?"

~Oh thank you for starting!~ she thought. "My whole life, actually." she was about to ask him the same question, when she remembered that he had been living in Manhattan for ten years. "So, how old are you anyways?"

"Well, do you want it in human years, or gargoyle years?"

"You mean you age at different rates?"

"Yea, half as fast, actually."

"Really? Well there's something you don't hear everyday."

He cast a quick glance at her. "How could you not know that? No, wait," he shook his head. "What I really meant to ask… was… what happened to your clan?"

She cast her eyes down. She again would have to lie to him, but was going to make her story as close to the truth as possible. "I never… knew my clan. As far as I know, I never had one."

"You're not saying you grew up alone, are you?"

She had to smile at that. "No. I was raised by a human couple, and they took care of me up until two years ago, when they were killed by a drunk driver."

He placed his hand on her shoulder, and she stopped walking. He stood in front of her to face her. She looked into his eyes and noticed they were hazel. She always had a thing for eyes, and the fact that his were just so… alluring and deep… it just made her tingle inside. "I'm really sorry to hear that. I know how it feels to lose a family."

Crystal nodded and lowered her head. Just thinking about her parents brought back memories, and nearly brought her to tears. Before she knew it, Brooklyn had cupped her chin with his hand, and raised her head. He looked lovingly into her eyes, as they slowly brought their heads closer together. Just before their lips met, she turned her head, and he ended up kissing her cheek. He pulled back with a confused look on his face. She placed her hands on his, and lifted them off her. "I'm sorry. I… I can't do this."

"It's okay. I understand."

"Maybe we should start heading back."

"Before we do, there's something… I wanted to ask you." he had known her for less than a day, and he could barely believe he had such strong feelings for her. There was just something about her that made him fall for her almost instantly. "I… would you… that is… I was wondering…" ~Damn it, just spit it out!~ "Come back to Manhattan with me? With us?"

"What? Oh, Brooklyn, I don't know. My whole life's here. Not to mention there wouldn't be anyone to protect the city." what he asked came completely out of the blue, at least for her. She cared for him, more than she thought she could in such a short amount of time. But she couldn't just leave her home behind, could she? Would she be able to just leave her house and ask her friends to watch it for her, or would she have to sell it? She would be leaving so much behind, but in turn, she'd be gaining a family, with members that were like her.

Her hesitation didn't bode well for him. "Will you at least think about it?"

That brought a smile to her face. There weren't many things that made her happy these days, but a person - even better if it was a guy - that was willing to wait for her, was one of the few things that did. "I definitely will."

"Well, look who decided to come back and join us." Crystal ignored Mike's comment, and pulled him away again. "You know, you really have to find another way to have a private conversation with me."

Once they were far enough, she let him go. "What do you think of them?"

"I think they're great, especially Lex, but I'm not too sure about Brooklyn. He seems to have something about him that I don't quite like."

"Don't worry about that. It's been dealt with."

He knew something was up. Whenever she wouldn't meet his eyes, it always meant she was hiding something. "Crys? Something wrong?"

She suddenly found her fingers interesting. "Well… Brooklyn… he asked me to go back to Manhattan with him."

"Well that, somewhat, explains his behaviour." she quirked an eye ridge. "You went on a walk with him, you should know then that he likes you." he smiled. "I noticed the look he gave me when I slapped your ass. It was one of jealousy." he looked off to the side. "Don't look now, but he's giving me that look again." she looked out of the corner of her eye, and saw that even though Brooklyn was having a conversation with Lex, he would look up every now and then and glare at Mike.

"I'll talk to him about it."

"Nah, don't bother. Now, I want details. What happened on that little walk of yours?"

She pretended to be hurt. "I can't believe you would think like that. Do you really think I'm that easy?" the look on his face told her everything. "Thanks, that's really thoughtful of you."

"I'm kidding. Now c'mon, tell me what happened!"

"Nothing… happened." he simply looked at her and did his liar cough. "Alright, alright. We **almost** kissed, but I turned away at the last second."

"You didn't!" she nodded. "So you aren't as easy as I thought. Good to know."

She glared at him. "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

He looked at his watch. "Well look at that, you're right! Wanna walk me to my car?"

"I would, but I'm afraid that you'll say something stupid and I'll act upon the thought of throwing you into the lake."

"Right. Gotcha. See you soon." they hugged once more before he ran off to his car.

"So guys, ready to leave?"

Lex stopped scratching Bronx's belly. "Leave where?"

"To my place, of course. Did you really think I was going to let you sleep on a rooftop again?"

The flight had been a long one, with both Brooklyn and Crystal complaining about having to carry Bronx. "Well, look at it this way. Where we're going, Bronx can run around freely, without anyone seeing him."

Brooklyn repositioned his arm around Bronx's front leg. "So how much farther?"

"We should be there in about another minute or so."

Lex took a look at the surroundings. "You weren't kidding when you said you lived in the middle of nowhere."

Within a minute, they had arrived at Crystal's home. It was somewhat large, and was an 'L' shape; the house itself being one half, and the garage, the other. They touched down on the driveway, and let Bronx start running around.

Lex looked around. "You know, in a way, this place kinda reminds me of the days of Wyvern."

"How'd you get a place like this anyway?"

"My human parents left it to me in their will. C'mon, let's go inside." she led them across the driveway and up the steps of the veranda, before she suddenly stopped. "Uh, can Bronx stay out here on his own?"

"We better bring him in, just in case." Brooklyn whistled. "C'mere Bronx!"

Bronx tromped his way across the lawn and jumped onto the veranda, nearly knocking Crystal over. He stopped and sat right in front of the door, his stub of a tail wagging furiously. She took the key out of her pocket and unlocked the door, still laughing from the gargdog's behaviour. She made sure to leave room as she opened the door, knowing - and proved to be correct - that the beast would just blast through once there was enough room for him to fit through.

"Welcome to my humble abode." because of the amount of space within, the house looked much bigger than it did on the outside. "While you guys are visiting, consider this your house. Nothing is off limits."

"Cool place you got here, Crystal." exclaimed Lexington. "You wouldn't happen to have a computer with internet access, would you?"

She chuckled. "Yea I've got a laptop, it's in the kitchen. Knock yourself out."

Not wanting to seem too eager, Lex sped walked to the kitchen, with Bronx following behind him.

"Why is it that you two keep using my full name?"

"We've had a bad experience with giving a nickname to a girl." she motioned for him to follow her into the family room, where they could sit on the couch. "There's this girl, Angela, she's the daughter of our clan's leader, and the first female we had seen in over a thousand years." he decided to leave Demona out of the story for now. He'd tell her about the she-demon soon enough. "Anyway, Lex, our brother Broadway, and I all wanted to be the one that she would choose as a mate, thing is, we really didn't know how to go about it." he let out a little laugh, remembering how stupid he and his brothers had acted. "Besides acting like complete idiots, we had given her the nickname 'Angie,' and she **really** didn't like it. She ended up yelling at us in order to make us stop calling her that."

"Cute." she giggled. "Very cute. But no need to worry, I'm pretty much fine with any nickname…. except Christie. **Never** call me Christie."

Brooklyn smirked. "You don't like having the name of a cookie company?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You've been warned." she smiled and looked down at her watch. "Shit! The game!" she jumped to her feet. "You hungry Brook?"

"Uh, yea. A little." she nodded and raced into the kitchen. He heard a few words being shared between her and Lex, and within a few minutes, Crystal had returned with a few cans of coke and a bag of chips.

"Pizza should be done in about ten minutes." she quickly grabbed the remote and started flipping through the channels.

"Whoa, slow down there Crys. What game are you talking about?"

She didn't remove her eyes from the screen. "The hockey game of course. Toronto Maple Leafs versus San Jose Sharks." she found the channel and saw that it was still the pre-game show. She turned her head to look at him. "Don't you watch hockey?"

"Well Hudson, our clan elder, watches Celebrity Hockey. I watched it once with him, but I just couldn't take to it."

She scrunched up her nose. "Ugh, fake hockey. Believe me, this is way better. And remind me to have a word with Hudson about that."

Inside he smiled, thinking that she was going to agree to go to Manhattan with him. "So, how much longer 'till it starts?"

"About another five minutes." unconsciously, she moved to sit closer to him. She didn't realize she had until she felt her tail accidentally brush against his. Not wanting him to think she was rude or anything, she decided to just stay where she was.

The game was an exciting and eventful one for both of them. Even more for Brooklyn, to his delight. Every time her team, the Leafs, scored, she would jump to her feet and do a little dance, and he enjoyed every second of it.

By the end of the game, the two of them had consumed two pizzas, two bags of chips, and four cans of coke. Crystal flopped onto the couch after doing her victory dance, and was a little exhausted from being so into the game. "Man, that was a good one. So what'd you think Brook?"

~There's more to this chick than I thought.~ "Better than I expected. You seriously know your sports."

"You ready for Round Two?"

"You mean there's another one?"

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "One thing you need to know while in this country: we're hockey nuts. Nothing is more important than our game."

He smirked. "So you're telling me you're insane?"

Crystal pretended to look offended. "Why I never!"

"Oh yea?" he poked her side with his tail, causing her to giggle. "Ticklish, are you?" he poked her again, and before either one of them knew it, they had gotten themselves into a tickle fight. They tousled for a while before falling onto the floor, with Brooklyn on top, straddling her hips and pinning her hands above her head.

"Ahem." the two gargoyles looked up to see Lex standing at the entrance of the room with his arms crossed. "Do what you want, but could you at least keep it down?" he left as suddenly as he had appeared, mumbling something about them being overzealous and immature.

For some reason, Crystal no longer felt comfortable in the position she was in. "Uh, maybe we should do a round of patrol."

He didn't want to, but he knew it had to be done. "Yea, I guess we should." he got up off her and helped her to her feet. "You wanna break the news to Lex that he has to get off the computer, or should I?"

"Actually, I was thinking we just leave him there. Besides, we need someone to make sure Bronx doesn't tear apart my house." Brooklyn opened his mouth to say something, but she quickly silenced him. "Just trust me." she led him out of the room and pushed him towards the front door. "Hey Lex! We're going out for a bit. You don't mind staying here and watching Bronx do you?"

"See you guys later."

"See?" she closed the door behind her. They climbed onto the roof and glided towards the city.

"So you patrol, every night, by yourself?"

"Well not every night, but yeah, since I'm the only one in the city." she paused to take a look at the city. "How'd you do it?"

He looked at her. "Do what?"

"Live your life, thinking you were the only one of your kind."

"Well, I had my clan there with me. We were there for each other. But Crys, you've lived without a clan your whole life, and you've always thought you were the only gargoyle. I admire you for that. I don't think I would have been able to do it."

"Uh, yeah." she couldn't keep the lie going. It wasn't fair to him, and in the end, she'd only make it worse for herself. "Listen, Brook, there's something I gotta tell you." It was at that moment that two shots rang out. One hitting her arm, and the other pierced her wing. "Aahh!" she tumbled out of the sky and landed in the middle of the road.

"Crystal!" he swooped down and landed beside her. "Crys, are you okay?"

She propped herself up with her other arm. "I will be tomorrow night."

"C'mon, let's see if we can get you fixed up." he was helping her up when he heard a bullet being loaded.

"You ain't goin' nowhere." Brooklyn looked up, and was staring down the barrel of a gun. He looked further up, and saw the gun holder wearing an all too familiar blue uniform and mask. "Looks like we got ourselves a little something extra, don't we boys?" Brooklyn looked around to see that he and Crystal were surrounded… and in the middle of the street.

"I guess you morons don't care about subtlety anymore."

"What do you care monster. You'll be dead soon enough anyway."

He growled. "Not if I have anything to say about it." his eyes went ablaze, as he snapped the gun out of the man's hand with his tail. Before he knew it, half the group had tackled him, and he was having a hard time dealing with them. He managed to throw most of them off him, but to his displeasure, one of the Quarrymen shocked him with his hammer, bringing the crimson gargoyle to his knees.

"Brooklyn!" his head snapped up at the sound of his name, and saw the Quarrymen carrying Crystal off into their van. She was desperately trying to fight them off, but she was injured and badly outnumbered. They shot her with a tranquilizer, and she desperately tried to fight off its effects.

"Crystal! NO!" he struggled to his feet, and continued to fight off the rest of the Quarrymen.

"Brook... lyn!" that was the last thing she was able to scream out before the drugs finally took effect. To Brooklyn's surprise, as soon as they had loaded Crystal into the truck, they stopped attacking him and jumped into the truck themselves.

He roared. "COWARDS!" he scaled the nearest building and followed the truck. There was no way he was going to let these monsters get away with this. He followed them to an abandoned warehouse, near the edge of the city. He knew he couldn't just barge in; they'd kill him, and probably Crystal too. He was going to need help with this, which meant he was going to have to get Lex.

"LEX!" he nearly smashed the door when he opened it.

The green gargoyle quickly shut off the computer and ran to the front door. "What? What is it?"

The anger and worry Brooklyn was feeling was now at its breaking point. He felt like yelling, screaming, and crying at the same time. "Crystal.... she.... the Quarrymen.... Damn it Lex! They have Quarrymen here! They took Crystal!"


	2. New Life, New Beginnings: Chapter 2

I do not own Gargoyles. Disney owns Gargoyles. Gargoyles is a show that I love, and write stories about. I own Crystal, and any other characters that never appeared in the show.

On another note, thank you to all of those who have read my first story, and a big thank you to those who have given me reviews. Sorry it took me so long to update, but university kinda got in the way. So here's chapter two!

**New Life, New Beginnings: Chapter 2**

Crystal awoke to find herself in a cold, cramped room. She didn't want to open her eyes, in fear of what she might see. But her efforts were futile. Her eyes opened, and she found herself in a cage. She didn't have enough room to stretch her legs, and she was betting she wouldn't have enough room to stand up straight either. Her head felt like it had an anvil dropped on it, and her arm and wing were still aching from the bullet wounds. What she found odd was that her arm had been bandaged. "Ugh, terrific. Shot and kidnapped in the same night. This has to be a world record or something."

"Well, look who decided to finally wake up. I thought you monsters were tougher than that."

Her head shot up, causing her to wince in pain. She took a look at the man who was sitting in the room. To her disappointment, he was still wearing his mask, but she did recognize his voice as being the one who had shot her. "Who the hell are you and what do you want with me?"

"Temper, temper. You should really control it. Could get you into bigger trouble."

She felt the heat in her eyes, and she knew they were glowing. "I'll repeat myself. Who are you and what do you want with me?"

The man remained calm. He had obviously done this before. "Nice trick there. I hate to inform you, but I cannot answer your questions. You will just have to wait and find out."

Her eyes dimmed. She knew intimidating the man wasn't going to work, especially since she was the one in the cage. "If what you want is a gargoyle, you've made a mistake."

"Oh really? Please explain as to how a mistake has been made."

She laughed. "Because I'm human. Why do you think there have been gargoyle sightings only in the past two years? Think about it."

"If you're human, than I'm Prince William." he chuckled and left the room.

"I'm human damn it!" she screamed after him. "Human!" her shoulders slumped and a tear rolled down her cheek. "I'm human," she whispered.

The two gargoyles wasted no time in thinking of a plan and winging their way to the warehouse. It was quite a simple one: get in, get Crystal, and get out. They didn't have the forces to do anything else. They landed on the rooftop, and looked through the skylight. The storage room was pretty small, with offices lining one side of the building.

"Brooklyn, there she is!" he pointed to a cage in the middle of the room, where a wing and tail were poking through the bars, but were erratically moving around. They could even hear muffled screaming.

"I'm going in. Remember, you stay here unless I need help." he opened the latch on the window, and a line of curse words came flowing out. "She's got quite a mouth on her." he jumped down and opened his wings, slowing his decent, and landed quietly behind some crates.

"Bastardi! You're gonna pay for this!"

~I didn't know she spoke another language~ he thought. He was about to make his move, when the door opened and a Quarryman walked in. He ducked lower into the crates, so that he wouldn't be seen.

"You monsters don't shut up, do you?"

"Mamma mia, how many times do I have to bloody tell you?! I'm not a gargoyle, and I'm definitely **not** a monster! I'm a **human**! Get that through your thick skull! Human! H-u-m-a-n!"

"Quiet beast! Or you won't see another night again!" he spun on his heel and left the room.

Crystal slammed her fist into the bars. "Pedazo de carne con patas."

Brooklyn figured this to be as good a time as any, and quietly ran to the cage. "Psst, Crystal."

She spun around and a smile graced her face. "Brooklyn! You came!" she whispered.

"Of course I did. No way was I going to leave you with these animals." he took in the width and length of the bars. "Have you tried bending these to get out."

She pointed to the bandage on her arm. "I've only got one arm to work with. I tried to bend them, but the pain was just too much."

"Let's see if I can get you out of this." he grasped two bars, and using all his strength, pulled the bars apart with enough room for her to get through. She jumped out and hugged him.

"Thank you Brooklyn. Thank you for rescuing me."

The hug surprised him, but returned it nonetheless. "I'm just happy to see you safe. Now c'mon, let's get out of here."

They had just started scaling the wall, when they heard the door opening. "She's escaping!" It was the same man who kept checking on her the entire night. Crystal decided she was going to keep her promise. She pushed herself off the wall, and stalked towards him.

"I said you were going to pay, and now you're going to!" her eyes went aglow, and she snarled.

"Crystal! Get back here!" Brooklyn ordered.

The Quarryman reached behind the wall and pulled out a tranquilizer gun. Just as he pulled the trigger, Crystal pounced on him, banging the man's head on the ground, and knocking him unconscious.

"Crystal, c'mon! Before the others get here!" she growled one last time before running back to the wall. The two scaled the wall as fast as they could, and climbed out one of the side windows. They met up with Lex on the roof, and glided away before they could be tracked.

Slowly, Crystal began dropping in altitude. "Crystal?" Without warning, her wings snapped back, and she dropped like a rock. "Crystal!" Brooklyn swooped down and caught her, and landed on a building. "Crys! Crys c'mon, talk to me."

Lex landed soon after and looked her over. "She won't be talking for a while. Look," he reached over and pulled a dart from her waist. "She's been drugged."

Brooklyn sighed. "C'mon, let's get her home."

The flight back, Brooklyn was deep in thought. He kept thinking about what he heard Crystal screaming at the Quarrymen. _"I'm not a gargoyle, and I'm definitely __**not**__ a monster! I'm a __**human**__! Get that through your thick skull! Human! H-u-m-a-n!" _It couldn't be true, could it? ~There's no way...~ his thoughts were cut off by the quickly approaching house. He would ask her about it when she woke up. He walked into the house and made his way down the hallway, when he realized he didn't know which room was hers. "Lex, got any idea which one is her room?"

"Not a clue. Just take a look inside them and try and guess."

Brooklyn went to the room directly in front of him, and instantly knew it was hers. With the walls covered in posters and framed autographs of hockey players, there was no way it couldn't be hers. He pulled the covers back with his tail, laid her down on the bed, and pulled the blankets up to cover her. He brushed back some hair away from her face, and a frown found its way to his beak. He no longer knew what to think, and he found it so hard to believe that she had once been human. Leaving her room, he closed the door behind him, and went in search of company with either Bronx or Lexington.

Crystal awoke and found herself on something comfortable, and something was covering her. She opened her eyes, and was happy to see herself in her room. Most of the night was foggy; she couldn't really remember anything from the time of her capture. Her rescue was somewhat there, but not much was coming to her. She sat up and rubbed her aching head. "Gods, I'm gonna have to raid the Tylenol factory later." Pulling the covers off and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she very carefully got up on shaky legs. She didn't know what kind of long term affects those tranquilizer darts could have on her, and she hoped she would never have to find out. Opening the door, and using the wall for support, she walked down the hallway. "Lexington? Brooklyn? Bronx?" she walked into the kitchen, and found all three sitting - well, Bronx was laying down - at the table. Whatever they had been talking about had stopped the instant she had walked in. "Hey guys. What'd I miss?"

Lexington looked at Brooklyn, then at Crystal, and back at Brooklyn. The two had become so close so fast. He would hate to see something like this break them apart. He knew Brooklyn was too hurt to say anything, so he decided to get the ball rolling. "Uh, Crystal? Mind telling us about you having been a human?"

She nearly collapsed. She was going to tell them, eventually. But she didn't want them to find out like this, and she could no longer keep the lie going. They knew what she had been. "Wha- How... how did you find out about that?"

"You were screaming it at the Quarrymen when we came to save you." mumbled Brooklyn. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I was going to. I had finally gathered the courage to do so, but then I got captured." she tried to crack a joke to lighten the mood, but even she knew it was pointless. "Look, guys, if I hurt you by keeping this secret, I'm sorry. I just didn't know how you would react if you knew."

She was beginning to show signs of fatigue, so Lex got up and helped her walk to the table to have a seat. "So how did it happen?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I was human one minute, and the next, I was this." she shook her head. "It completely flipped my life upside-down. I had to drop out of school, I withdrew from my friends, my family disowned me..."

Brooklyn's head shot up. "They what?!"

She looked down at the table and nodded. "Yea, they did. Only my cousin stuck by me." Her head slowly went up, and her cheeks were wet with tears. "Do you know how it feels to be betrayed by the ones you love?"

Just then the phone rang. She swore in Italian, wiped her eyes, and got up to answer the phone. "Hello?" her face brightened. "Nicole! Yes, of course you can! Alright, see ya in a few." she hung up the phone. "My cousin's coming over!"

The two males looked worried. "You sure that's a good idea? With us being here and all?" asked Lex.

"Are you kidding? She's the reason I found out about your clan. Ever since my transformation, she's been trying to find others like me. She'll be so happy to know that her efforts weren't in vain."

"Crystal!"

"Cole!" the cousins hugged, happy to finally see each other after two months of separation. "Oh it's so good to see you!"

"It's good to see you too! I missed you so much!" she pulled out of the hug. Standing at 5'5", reddish-brown hair, brown eyes, and at the age of 28, she definitely looked younger than she actually was. "So anything exciting happen since I last saw you?"

"You mean not including tonight?" she laughed at her cousin's confused expression. "I'll tell you about that later. But otherwise..." she stepped off to the side to reveal the people standing behind her."

"So I was right! You are a gargoyle! So, what are you waiting for? Do the introductions!"

"Oh right, right. Cole, meet Lexington, Brooklyn, and the cutest dog in the world, Bronx. Guys, this is my cousin Nicole."

Nicole took her time in looking each one over. "Girl, I know you had a knack for finding hot guys, but I didn't think you could do it as a gargoyle too!"

"Coooooooooooollllllllle!" Crystal blushed.

"What? I just wish I was a gargoyle." her mouth twisted into a devilish grin. "So which one do you have dibs on?"

"Cole!"

"Okay, okay, I'm done." she leaned over to whisper in her ear. "Red's yours, isn't he?"

Crystal threw her hands up in defeat. "Someone else deal with her before I decide to ring her neck!"

The two males looked at each other, and Brooklyn took a step back. "She's all yours bro."

"Oh, come on. I'm not that horrible. Either one of you like computers and video games?"

Brooklyn pushed his smaller brother forward. "Yeah, I do."

"Bet I could kick your ass at 'Star Wars: Battlefront'."

"You have it?"

Nicole pulled a flat box out of her purse. "Never go anywhere without it. Crys, you still got your PS2 hooked up?"

"It always is. You two go knock yourselves out." the two ran into the family room, and Bronx followed the newcomer.

The crimson gargoyle cloaked his wings. "So... you feeling better from those darts?"

"My body's a little sore, but I should be fine after a day's sleep." she tightened her wings around herself. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

He shrugged. "You had good reason to keep it a secret."

"That may be true, but I should have told you the moment I knew I could trust you." she moved to stand in front of him. "I.... I'm sorry if I hurt you." she leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Her eyes went downcast as she walked away, when Brooklyn grabbed her arm.

She looked up at him with a questioning look in her eyes. "You didn't hurt me. I just didn't handle the news very well." he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "And this time, I was aiming for there."

Smiling, she took hold of his hand. "I got something that will make you happy." she led him to where Nicole and Lex were already deeply engrossed in their game.

"Oh, you little jerk! You're gonna pay for that!" Nicole hissed.

Crystal stepped in front of the television, forcing them to pause the game, and groan in anger. "This'll only take a moment. You still looking for a place to live Cole?"

"Is the Pope Catholic?"

"Good, 'cause I found the perfect place for you."

Nicole jumped to her feet, dropping the controller. "You did?! Really? Where?"

"Here."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I'm giving you the house."

"Why on earth are you doing that?!"

She looked at Brooklyn, and back at her cousin. "I'm moving to Manhattan."

Three jaws dropped in unison. "You're what?!"

"Brooklyn asked me to, and it makes sense. I finally found others like me, and it'd be stupid to just let them leave. I... I need... a clan."

Nicole stepped forward and gave her cousin a hug. "I'm gonna miss you. Take care of yourself, okay? E non va tutta la maniera anche presto con Red."

"Faro non. E non sono con lui."

"Yet."

A week later, Crystal had all her clothes packed. She was leaving all her furniture, as she was told she wouldn't need them at the castle. Besides, it would make Nicole's moving in a lot easier. Leaving her city didn't sit too well with her, but she couldn't live on her own for the rest of her life. "Alright, looks like that's everything." she looked around. "Where's Domi?"

"Who's Domi?" asked Brooklyn.

"My cat. Her actual name is Dominique, but, you know... takes less time to say Domi. Domi! Where are you?" a black kitten crawled out from under the bed. "Domi, there you are!" she picked up the cat. "Ready to go on a trip?" the kitten meowed in response, as if to say yes.

"I'm gonna miss you so much Crys." Cole reached over and gave her cousin a hug.

The gargress returned the hug. "I'm gonna miss you too. I'll be sure to keep in touch."

"Hey, it was great playing with you. Hope we can do it again soon." Lex put out his hand for a handshake. Cole quickly accepted it, but what surprised him was when she pulled him for a hug.

"You take care of her for me, okay? And I promise we'll play again soon." she stepped in front of Brooklyn, and shook hands with him. "I'd give you a hug, but my cousin might get jealous."

"Cole!"

"See what I mean?"

Brooklyn leaned over and gave her a hug. "If she does get jealous, I'll hear about it later." he winked at Crystal as she blushed. "But we really have to get going, the helicopter's waiting."

A few hours later, on the battlements...

"Okay, I don't think I thought this through."

Brooklyn wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Hey, it'll be fine. You're very likable."

"Well, you see, not completely. You said there's a girl in your clan, right?"

"Yeah, Angela. So?"

"Yeah, well, ya see," she rubbed the back of her neck. "I don't get along well with girls. They usually hate me."

He moved a lock of her hair behind her horns. "Angela's different. They'll all like you, especially Angela. Trust me."

They walked into the main hall to find everyone in there relaxing. Crystal hung back as Brooklyn, Lexington and Bronx were welcomed back home.

"It is good to have you all back." said the big purple one. "Was your trip successful?"

"Indeed it was Goliath." Brooklyn turned back, and saw Crystal hiding behind the door. He waved for her to come over, but when she shook her head, he walked over to her, and held out his hand. "Don't worry, it'll be fine." she tentatively took his hand, and allowed herself to be taken to the clan. "Everyone, this is Crystal. Crystal, I'd like you to meet Goliath, our leader, Hudson, the clan mentor, Broadway, my rookery brother, and his mate, Angela."

Crystal silently said hi to each of them, and suddenly felt quite small under Goliath's gaze. "So you are the infamous Guardian Degel."

She snorted. "Would have been better if they had just came out and called me a demon. But **no**, the newspapers don't want to upset anyone, so they make up a word." she looked at the shocked faces of the clan. "Sorry, I guess I'm just nervous."

"There's no need tae be nervous, lass. Ye're among clan now."

"He's right." Brooklyn realized he was still holding her hand, so he gave it a reassuring squeeze. "C'mon, I'll give you a tour of the castle." she simply nodded and followed him out.

"That's a little odd." Angela commented.

Goliath looked at his daughter. "What is?"

"Well, when was the last time you saw a gargoyle dressed completely in human clothes?"

Two months had gone by, and Crystal had become quite comfortable in the clan. She was even surprised that she and Angela had become almost as close as sisters. The only thing that was bothering her was patrol. Not being used to having to deal with so much violence, Crystal had gotten herself into quite a few scrapes, and a few where she was lucky to escape with her life. Goliath decided that until she was trained as a warrior, she would no longer take part in patrols. Hudson had taken her spot, and she was assigned to guard the castle. Hudson had been told to train her, Brooklyn had instantly volunteered to help, and even Goliath was willing to help her in her training. The only problem was, she was stuck alone at the castle with Bronx until they returned from their patrols. Her clothing had also become a problem, as she didn't have good mobility with them. So she had gone and asked Fox for some cloth in order to make herself a new outfit. And so here she was, sitting in her room on her bed, with Bronx on the floor and her cat Domi sleeping beside her, working on her new outfit.

"Another boring night, eh Bronx?" the gargdog whined in response. Crystal didn't mind spending time by herself; now and then she even preferred to be alone. Problem was, she was spending too much time by herself, and she knew what happened then. She absently touched the scar on her left arm. It was such a deep cut, that it had even left an indent. Having talons made it easier, and it was so tempting... "No. I promised myself I wouldn't do it anymore." she got up to put on a CD so that her mind could have something else to think about, and went back to her sewing, so as to keep her hands busy. She couldn't let herself go back to her old ways. "Non posso credere che abbia pensato di cio fa ancora."

"You know, we'd have a better time understanding you if you'd stick to English."

Her head snapped up to see Brooklyn standing in her doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed. She quickly hid the cloth behind her. "When did you get back?"

"Just a few minutes ago. I heard your CD player, and figured you could spare some time for training."

"Oh, sure." Lucky for her she was already dressed for it. In her short black shorts and sports bra, she knew she was being a tease to Brooklyn. For some reason, she didn't even care that she was. They made their way to the gym, and immediately started with sparring. They first started out easy, but Crystal had her mind on other things, and therefore continued to be knocked down easily.

After knocking her down for the tenth time, Brooklyn had to stop. "Crystal, what's wrong?"

She propped herself up with her hand behind her. "What makes you think something's wrong?"

"I haven't been able to knock you down this easily or this many times in weeks. Something's bothering you."

"I just got some things on my mind. Nothing to be concerned about."

Brooklyn offered his hand to help her up. "You sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"There are some things that shouldn't be revealed." she brushed herself off. "Do you mind if we cut it short today? I'm a little hungry and I feel like eating out tonight."

"Yeah, no - eat out?"

"Of course." she rubbed her chin. "You know, you might come in handy. Meet me out on the battlements in fifteen minutes."

15 minutes later...

"You have **got** to be kidding me."

"What? It's worked before." Crystal had dressed herself in pants that were long enough to cover her feet, and wide enough to conceal the fact she had her tail wrapped around her leg. She had on a baggy hoody that hid her wings, with sleeves that covered her hands, a hat to cover her horns and the pointed tip of her ears, and used her hair to cover her ears. "C'mon, you're my ride tonight."

He scooped her up into his arms, and she wrapped an arm around his neck. "Last time I carried you like this, you were unconscious."

She smiled. "Luckily I'm awake for the ride this time."

Demona had run out of things to smash in her home, so she decided to go out for a glide, something she usually did when she needed to calm down. She hated to work with the species that she despised, but being human by day did come in handy when she wanted to come up with another plan to destroy the retched species. She had only been gliding for about half an hour, when she saw, in the distance, one of Goliath's clan. She saw the white mane of hair, and knew it was Brooklyn. Not really having anything to do, she decided to follow, if only to see what he was up to.

Within minutes, she had followed the gargoyle to a Chinese restaurant. She landed on a building across the street, while Brooklyn landed in the alley. Watching from within the shadows, she saw that he had been carrying someone in his arms. ~So he's gone and copied his leader and found himself a human.~ she thought. She continued to watch as the human went inside the restaurant, and he climbed onto the roof. Not long after, the human emerged from the restaurant with a bag of food, walked into the alley and - ~How is it possible for her to climb a wall?!~ Now this human had peaked her curiosity. Brooklyn helped her onto the roof, and took her hat, revealing her horns. "What on earth has he found himself?" she whispered. What really surprised her was when the human removed her sweater. ~A gargoyle! Where on earth did they find her?!~ She had seen enough. She ran to the other side of the roof and glided back home. What she needed was a plan. There was no way she was going to let this new blood be corrupted by Goliath and his clan.

"Gods it feels good to be able to move my wings." said Crystal as she stretched her wings and readjusted her tank top.

Brooklyn sat on the roof and began rummaging though the bag. "It's a small sacrifice to make to enjoy take-out."

She took her hat and put it on his head. "Then maybe next time I should send you."

"Right, because it's so easy for me to just stroll in somewhere with red skin and a beak."

"Bet you ten bucks I could find a day when you could."

He took out a box of noodles and started fiddling with the chopsticks. "You're on."

She took out a box and started eating. "Halloween."

He quirked an eye ridge at her. "Well I walked into that one, didn't I?"

"Mm-hm. But don't beat yourself up about it. I don't want you to feel like you got outsmarted by your newest clan member."

"Oh thank you so much for considering my feelings."

They spent the next two hours just eating and chatting on the rooftop, acting like they had been friends for years. There was no trying to impress the other. Just simply two clan mates, two friends, enjoying their dinner together.

It was their flight back to the castle when Brooklyn started complaining. "Stupid muggers, always sneaking up from behind."

"Problem, Brooklyn?"

"Yea, got smashed in the back with a two by four. Hurts to glide."

"And you let me... Brooklyn!" she slapped and rubbed her forehead. "Why didn't you tell me before we left?"

"I, uh, forgot about it."

She sneezed. "Oh, sorry, I'm allergic to bullshit." they soon landed on the battlements. "Now march yourself in there and sit yourself on the couch. I'll meet you there in a few minutes."

Brooklyn had no idea what she had planned, he was even a little worried, but decided to do what she said. "Why do I suddenly feel like a hatchling." he mumbled. He didn't have to wait long before she came back wearing track pants and a different tank top.

She sat down beside him. "Now turn around so your back faces me." he did as he was told. "Now this may hurt a bit, but you'll feel better in the end." she cracked her knuckles, and proceeded to give him a massage.

He cringed. "Jeez Crys! What'd I do to piss you off?"

"I'm sorry, but your muscles are so tense." she slowly worked her way down from his shoulders. She eventually reached the base of his wings.

He held back a moan and abruptly stood up. "Uh, thanks Crys. It feels a lot better."

Her eye ridges furrowed in confusion. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, I just remembered I had to do something." Before she could say anything else, he ran out of the room.

She looked down at her hands, and back at the door. "What did I do?"

She eventually found herself looking for Lex. He was the only clan member she trusted with personal stuff, and that was because he was the only other one who knew she had been human. She was going to tell the rest of the clan, she had just never found the opportune moment to do so.

She walked into the kitchen and found the green gargoyle making himself a sandwich. "Hey Lex." he looked up to acknowledge her presence. "Mind if I ask you something?"

He opened the jar of peanut butter. "Ask away."

"Well, uh, say I was giving you a back massage. Is there a spot on your back that I would need to avoid?"

"On me? No. You'd just have to avoid where my wing membrane meets my sides."

She bit her lip. "Why's that?"

"In simple terms, it turns us on. For someone with wings like yours, you'd need to avoid the shoulder blades."

"Oh shit." she let her head drop and hit the table. "Why am I not told these things in advance?"

Lexington chuckled. "What happened?"

"I gave Brooklyn a massage." she mumbled into the table.

He dropped the knife. "You mean you -" she nodded. "I can only imagine the look on his face. How did he react?"

Crystal lifted her head and rested her chin on the table. "He was extremely flustered and quickly left saying he had to do something."

He snickered. "Well don't worry about it. He'll act a little weird for a bit, but he'll be back to normal in no time."

She propped her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands. "I hope you're right Lex. I really hope you're right."

Sadly, Lexington was wrong. A whole month had gone by, and Brooklyn was still acting weird, at least around her. He avoided being in the same room alone with her, and had even stopped his training with her. She had tried confronting him a few times, but he always managed to find an excuse to leave. Slowly, she had begun to think that she had lost a friend, and in turn, she had gone back to her old ways. She had even spent fewer days roosting with the clan. Nearly every night was spent in her room, except for when she had her training, which was now only done with Hudson and Goliath.

Her cuts were getting harder and harder to hide. Mostly because she had been making the cuts bigger and bigger. She always made the excuse that it had been her cat, but that was easily being seen for what it was: a lie. Tonight she had been able to get out of training, thanks to her near-begging to Goliath. So there she was, sitting on her bed, bracing herself for the coming pain. But the pain felt good, and it always made her feel better. Not thinking about it for another second, she used her index talon and ran it across her upper left arm. She found slight joy in seeing it was quite deep, and that it may leave another deep scar. She pulled out the first aid kit from under her bed and began cleaning the cut. There was no way she was going to let it get infected. That was one form of pain she did not want to have to deal with.

For some reason, she didn't feel satisfied with just the one cut. She looked at her wrists, and there was no hesitation in her decision. Within seconds, the blood was quickly flowing. She watched as the blood flowed down her arms and onto the floor. Suddenly, a wave of dizziness hit her, and fear made itself known. She realized the seriousness of what she had done, but it was already too late. Shaking, she got up from her bed to try and reach the door, but another wave of dizziness hit her, and everything went dark.

Angela had become worried about her clan sister. From being outgoing, funny, caring, and extremely loving, she had become introverted, shy, nervous, and basically completely out of character. She had gone to Crystal's room to check on her, when she heard a thud from inside.

"Crystal?" she slowly opened the door, and was horrified at the sight. There was Crystal, lying on the floor, in a pool of her own blood. Not knowing what to do, she ran to the library on all fours, where Elisa and Goliath were spending their time. She burst through the doors. "Father! Elisa! You need to come quickly! Crystal needs help!"

Goliath got up from the couch and walked over to his daughter. "Calm down Angela. What is the problem?"

"Crystal's dying! She's bleeding to death!"

Elisa raced over to the young gargress. "Where is she?" Angela quickly led the two back to Crystal's room, and Elisa immediately took control of the situation.

She knelt down beside her to check her pulse. "She's got a pulse, but it's weak." she noticed the first-aid kit on the bed, quickly grabbed it, and began bandaging the gargress' wrists. "This is only a temporary thing. We need to get her down to the infirmary to be stitched up." Goliath carefully picked Crystal up, and ran down to the infirmary as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Do you think she'll make it?"

Elisa placed a reassuring hand on Angela's shoulder. "We did what we could. All we can do now is wait and hope for the best."

i. Spanish: Piece of meat with legs. (Compliments of Puss in Boots)  
ii. Italian: And don't go all the way too soon with Red.  
iii. Italian: I won't. And I'm not with him.  
iv. Italian: I can't believe I thought about doing that again.


	3. New Life, New Beginnings: Chapter 3

Gargoyles does not belong to me. None of the characters that appeared in the show belong to me. Those all belong to Disney. Same goes for the Goliath Chronicals. The characters that appear here, and not in the show, are all mine. You hear me! MINE! XD  
Have fun and enjoy!

**New Life, New Beginnings: Chapter 3**

Crystal opened her eyes to find herself in a white room, in a bed, with a bright light shining in her eyes. "Ugh, there should be a law against shining a light in someone's face."

"Hey, you're awake!" she looked over and saw Lex sitting beside her bed.

"If you can call it that. What happened? Why am I here?"

"Don't you remember?" she shook her head. "Angela found you in your room. You were bleeding profusely from the cuts on your wrists."

"My wrists?" she tried lifting her arms, but she found them strapped down to the bed. "What the hell?"

Lex looked away from her face. "They were worried that you might try to do it again." he looked back at her and saw the questioning look in her eyes. "They think you tried to commit suicide."

"Suicide?! That's insane! I'm not suicidal!"

"Then why'd you do it?" he lightly touched her arm. "And these?"

Now the clan knew what she had done. And there was no lying out of this one. The proof was right there on her arms. "It just... felt good. It helped relieve the emotional pain." suddenly the events of that night came flooding back. "When I cut my wrists, I just... I didn't mean for it to go as far as it did." she looked at her arms. "I don't expect you or the clan to understand."

"No, I think I do." he knew he shouldn't have, but he didn't care. To her surprise, he started undoing the straps on her arms.

"Lex, what are you doing?"

"I don't think you're suicidal. I just hope you won't cut yourself anymore."

"I promise Lex. That's the last time I intentionally hurt myself."

"Good. But there's something you should know." he knew she wasn't going to like this, but it was better him telling her than letting her suddenly find out. "The clan knows about your past."

She instantly sat up. "You don't... you can't... they know I was human? How did they find out?"

"When the doctor came and told us that you would need a transfusion, he also told us that your blood was almost an exact match to that of a human's. Apparently Brooklyn and I aren't every good actors, and everyone could tell we were hiding something. We didn't want to tell them, but they forced it out of us. I'm really sorry Crystal."

She held his hand and squeezed it gently, while she lay back down. "I don't blame you. It's my fault for not telling them in the first place. I just hope they're not mad at me."

"No, just disappointed." both gargoyles looked at the door to see Goliath standing there. "Lexington, will you please excuse us?"

"No problem Goliath." he gave Crystal's hand a squeeze before leaving.

"Look, Goliath, what happened -"

He raised his hand to silence her. "I do not want to hear any excuses. I came to check if you had awakened, and to see how you were feeling."

Something was up. She could sense it. "I'm feeling quite well Goliath, thank you."

"I am happy to hear that. But I also came to tell you about your new living conditions."

Slowly, she sat up again. "New... living conditions?"

"Until you are deemed to be mentally healthy, you will be living in the Labyrinth. For the safety of the clan, and yourself, you will only be allowed back here once you are again sound of mind."

She knew about the Labyrinth. She had even gone there a few times to help the mutates take care of the homeless. But she never thought she'd be sent to live there. "Goliath, I'm not insane, and I'm not suicidal. What happened was an accident, pure and simple. It wasn't supposed to go as far as it did."

"This is not up for discussion. As soon as you are physically able, you will move there, until Talon feels you are able to return." before she could get out another word, he turned and left the room.

It was a good thing he left then, because within seconds, Crystal began to silently cry.

Two weeks had passed, and Crystal was in her room, packing her things, and getting ready for her new life in the Labyrinth. She wasn't completely upset about having to leave, in fact, she considered herself lucky that Goliath hadn't sent her back to Canada. What bothered her was that he thought she was mentally unstable, when she clearly wasn't.

Brooklyn was standing outside her bedroom, watching her pack. She hadn't said why she had done it, but he knew he was responsible, or at least partly. He knew he had overreacted that night, making a big deal out of nothing. He didn't even stop to think that she wouldn't have known about that spot. And because of his stupidity, Crystal had nearly lost her life.

"Are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna come in?"

He took a few steps into her room. "I didn't think you noticed I was there."

She smiled at him. "Who couldn't notice a body like that?"

Now he was confused. "You're not mad at me?"

"For the end result? No. The actions that were done to get to the end? Again, no. The only reason I have to be mad at you would be all those times you avoided me and wouldn't listen to me." she stopped packing to look at him. "But otherwise, I have no reason to be mad at you. Especially not for something that would have happened anyway, given time."

"Crystal, that's not true. If I hadn't acted the way I did, there's no way you would have -"

She placed her hand on his beak to silence him. "It would have happened eventually." she rolled up her sleeve, and showed him the deep scar on her arm. "I did this one a month after my parents were killed. My problem is that I easily become depressed. Believe me, if it wasn't this, then it would have been something else." she showed him the scars on her wrists. "And what doesn't kill you, can only make you stronger."

He lightly ran a talon over her wrist scars. "I'm really sorry."

She stroked the side of his beak. "It's not your fault. Besides, now I have a lifelong reminder of what happens when I let my emotions take control. It's a lesson learned, and never to be forgotten."

For some reason, he couldn't stop himself from what he wanted to do. Before Crystal knew it, she was leaning against his chest, wrapped in his arms. "Next time I act like an idiot, just, hit me or something. I don't want to come so close to losing you again."

She returned the hug. "Don't worry. Next time I become that emotional, I'll let you know before it gets out of control."

**Two weeks later...**

"Give me one good reason not to smash your head in!"

"Crystal! Put him down!" Talon and Claw had just caught up to her to find her holding up a homeless man by his collar, and pinning him up against the wall.

"Why should I?! You saw what he did to that woman!" Earlier that night, a resident homeless woman had come running to her and Maggie, her clothes torn, saying that she had nearly been raped. They had asked who had done it, and after describing the man, Crystal instantly knew who it was. The man had been causing trouble ever since she had arrived there, and he had always been able to get off the hook. But now, he had gone too far.

"And so we'll deal with him! This isn't the way to do it!"

While she was distracted with Talon and the homeless man, Claw had quietly snuck around to the other side of her. Before she could notice he was there, he hit where her arm bent at the elbow, causing her to drop the man and lose her grip on his shirt. Talon pulled the man away from Crystal, while Claw wrapped his arms around her from behind, pinning her arms, and lifted her off the ground.

She struggled against him. "Damn it put me down!" But it was useless. Claw was nearly twice her size, and much stronger.

"Take her to her room. I'll deal with this." Claw nodded and did as he was told.

He had to keep readjusting his hold on her, due to her constant struggling. He walked into her room, let her go, and blocked the doorway.

Her eyes were still slightly aglow. "Claw, let me pass."

Crossing his arms, he shook his head and stood his ground. He had seen her upset like this before, when dealing with another homeless person who was, for no reason, beating the children who lived there. That was a time where he himself was barely able to hold her back.

'You're too angry right now.' he signed with his hands. 'You need to calm down.'

"Damn it Claw, I am calm!" she took a deep breath and sighed. "I'm clam, okay? Really, I am."

'If you were, your eyes wouldn't still be glowing.'

She punched the wall, leaving a dent, and collapsed on her bed. Her shoulders slumped, and held her head in her hands. "Maybe Goliath was right. Maybe I am mentally unstable."

Claw picked up the pad of paper and pen from the small night table. **No you're not. **He wrote. **You're not the first to act like that when it comes to someone's safety. It just shows you care for their well-being.**

Slowly, she dropped her hands, and turned her head to look up at him. "You're just saying that to justify what I did."

He shook his head. **No, I'm not. You just had a stronger reaction, that's all. **He took a moment to study her, before writing again. **There's something else bothering you, isn't there?**

Her eye ridges furrowed. "What makes you say that?"

**Well, you always seem to have something, or someone, on your mind. Am I right?**

She sighed. "Yea, you are. When Goliath sent me to live here, I was, no offence, pissed. The clan's been my first real family in years, and being sent away from the castle just felt like I was being abandoned again. And that whole emotional thing that happened with Brooklyn," the thought of him brought a small smile to her face. "I'm worried that I may actually lose them." he wrapped an arm around her shoulders to hug her, and she was quick to lean onto his chest. "I can't lose him Claw. I just can't."

He removed his arm and began writing again. **Him? Sure you're not denying some feelings for someone?**

Crystal quickly pulled away. "Did I say him? I meant them."

A small smile graced the tiger mutate's face. **Whatever you say. But if you need someone to talk to, just come and find me.**

She smirked. "I'm warning you now, I'm gonna hold you to that." she ripped the sheet from the pad. "I've got it written on paper. You can't go back on it now." he ruffled her hair before leaving to help out Maggie and Talon. She smoothed her hair back down, and pondered what she had said. "There's... I can't possibly have feelings for him. Not in that way. Could I?"

Two months had passed, and Crystal was sitting down and playing a game of checkers with Claw. In that time, she had made improvement in handling her emotions. She was still quick to become emotional, especially when she got angry, but she was now able to keep it under control. At least, much better than she had before.

Crystal was able to see her oncoming victory halfway through the game. But there was no way she was going to let Claw know about it. Grinning, she jumped his last three pieces, and shot her hand out, palm up, in front of him. "C'mon, hand it over."

Growling, he reached over and placed the winnings in her hand. 'I can't believe you beat me six times in a row!' he signed.

'I warned you.' she signed back. Over the weeks, she decided to learn how, in case she needed to have an extremely quiet conversation.

'You completely cleaned me out!'

'I was motivated by what we were betting. I can't help it if I wanted it more than you did.'

'I just wanted to eat my brownies in peace! You were the one who made the bet.'

'If you want, you can try to win some back.' she took a bite of brownie, just to taunt him.

'I have nothing else left to bet. What would I give you if I lost again?'

She put the rest of the brownie in her mouth, and thought for a moment. She decided to have a little fun. 'If I lose, you get your brownies back. If you lose, you have to kiss me.' she signed.

If he could talk, he would have stuttered. 'Kiss you?'

'You decide where, what kind, and how long. So you in?'

He took his time in answering. The chance of getting his brownies back was tempting, but he had a great friendship with Crystal, and he didn't want to risk it because he might lose... again. 'You're on.'

The amount of shock that she was feeling was just so much, that her expression remained passive. She didn't actually think that he would agree to it, but no way was she going to back out of it now. They started a new game, and Crystal tried her hardest to lose, even though she hated the thought of giving up her brownies. By the near end, Crystal had three pieces left, compared to Claw's one. It was almost like he had tried to lose. Not having another option, she jumped his last piece, and won the game.

She sighed. "Looks like you lost, kitty." she noticed his hesitation. "If you want, we can just pretend the bet was never made."

Claw picked up the paper and pen he had beside him. **I agreed to the bet. I have to pay my dues.** He moved to sit beside her, cupped her chin, and gently kissed her lips.

If you wanted to argue whether it was good or bad, you couldn't deny that his timing was perfect. Goliath had received the call last night from Talon, saying that Crystal was ready to go back to the castle. Wanting to keep it a surprise, the clan decided to wait until tonight to tell her. Brooklyn had volunteered to go to the Labyrinth to bring her back. So there he was, standing in the doorway, watching her and Claw kiss. Holding back a growl, he took a few steps forward, putting all his weight into each one so that he would be heard.

Crystal pulled back and whipped her head around. "Brooklyn!" she ran to him and hugged him. "It's so good to see you!"

He glared at Claw and wrapped his arms around her. "It's good to see you too. You know, the clan can't wait for you to come back."

Her wings drooped. "Who knows when that'll be."

Reluctantly, he pulled back. "That's why I'm here. Talon gave the okay. You're allowed to come back home."

"I am? Really?!" he was barely able to nod once before she started squealing. "I'm gonna go start packing!" Giving Claw one last glare, Brooklyn followed her out.

A week after her arrival back to the castle, the clan and the Xanatos' decided to throw Crystal a surprise welcome party. To add to it, Goliath had announced the completion of her training. She couldn't contain her excitement, and hand jumped on him to hug him, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

She and the others had gotten so caught up in the fun and excitement that Brooklyn decided to make his way out to the battlements. Not that he wasn't enjoying himself; he just needed some time alone to think. He leaned onto the wall, and stared out over the city. He had barely begun to think, when he heard the sound of wings behind him. He turned around to see the person he least expected.

"Claw, what are you doing here?"

The tiger mutate handed him a folded sheet of paper, and began scribbling on the pad of paper he had brought. **Crystal left this behind. I thought she might still want it.**

Brooklyn considered tearing it to shreds right in front of his face and telling him to never come near Crystal again, but he knew better. It would ruin what he had with her. "I'll make sure she gets it."

Claw nodded his thanks and flew back to the Labyrinth. He didn't want to stay too long, knowing Brooklyn was mad at him, for reasons he could point out from a mile away.

Brooklyn looked at the paper in his hands, and considered looking to see what was written. He had no right to, but he was also extremely jealous. Claw had gone after his girl. ~But she's not your girl. You're just clan mates. Nothing more.~ he reminded himself.

"So this is where you've been hiding."

He looked up to see Crystal walking towards him. "I... yeah. Didn't think anyone realized I was missing."

"Now why would you think that?" she noticed the paper in his hand. "What's that you got there?"

"What, this?" he had nearly forgotten about it. "Claw came by, said you forgot this and thought you might still want it."

She took the paper and unfolded it. A smile graced her face. "I thought I lost this. That was so nice of him to bring it back to me."

"What is it?"

"It's kind of a little contract between me and him. He was trying to comfort me, and it ended up with this."

If there was one thing Brooklyn had to learn, it was to know when to keep his beak shut. "Since when do mates need to make contracts?"

"Mates? Claw and I aren't mates. Where did you get that idea?"

Just thinking about what he saw hurt. "When I saw the two of you kissing last week."

"Kissing?" the memories of the checkers game came back to her. "That happened because of a bet. There was no emotion behind it."

He turned away from her. "That's now how it looked from where I was standing."

Being fed up with his stubbornness, she turned his head towards herself and kissed him. To both their surprises, neither one was willing to pull away.

Finally, after needing some air, Crystal pulled away. "There," she said, slightly panting. "Would I have done that if Claw was my mate?"

Brooklyn, too, was out of breath. "No, I... I guess not."

"Brooklyn, if I've done something to upset you, tell me. I'd rather get it solved right away than let it escalate to something that neither one of us could handle." she stroked the side of his beak. "Now, what's the big deal of me having a mate?"

He paled slightly. He had hoped that either Hudson or Goliath would have explained it to her. Even Angela would have been a better choice than him. "Well, uh, Breeder's Moon is in a few years, and well, you've seen how small the clan is."

She stepped away from him. "You mean, you're all expecting me to mate with someone? Is that the only reason why I was accepted into the clan?"

"What? No! Of course not! Crys, we're not expecting anything like that. It's just that -"

He was cut off by her laughter. "I'm sorry, but you should have seen the look on your face!" she took a moment to compose herself. "Not to worry, Hudson already explained the whole thing to me, and I know that none of you are going to force me to do anything. I'm actually kind of flattered to know that you would get so upset about me having a mate."

Awkwardly, he cleared his throat. "Yeah, well, just want to make sure no one hurts you."

"That's really sweet." she kissed the top of his beak. "Now c'mon, there's a party going on inside, and you owe me a dance."

"But Crys, I don't know how to dance." he argued as she pulled him back into the castle.

"You have nothing to worry about. Besides, it's barely even dancing. Heck, look at Goliath." she pointed out the gargoyle leader, doing a slow dance with Elisa. "And if he can do it, so can you." she went over to Lex, who was playing DJ, and requested a song. Walking back, she chuckled at Brooklyn's nervous expression. "Don't worry, it's not anything difficult." he gulped as she placed his hands on her waist, and wrapped her arms around his neck. At that moment, Savage Garden's 'Truly Madly Deeply' started playing. "Just follow my lead, and you'll pick it up within seconds." Of course, she was right.

In no time, the two had become completely engrossed in the song and dance, and Crystal was now leaning her head on him. Brooklyn was enjoying the moment to the fullest, when he felt something wet where her head was.

"Crystal?" he whispered, trying not to draw any attention to themselves. "You okay?"

She lifted her head, and he could see the tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry Brooklyn. I haven't done this in years, and... I guess I didn't realize how much I missed it." she wiped her eyes. "But thank you."

"Hey, anytime." she laid her head back against him, and he began running his talons through her hair, thinking she didn't know what it meant.

In actual fact, Hudson had told her the ways in which gargoyles showed their affection. She was just a little surprised to know that he had feelings for her. Especially since she wasn't even sure what her feelings were for him.

The next night, Crystal wasted no time in running to her room to change into her new outfit. It was her first night back on patrol, and she was ready for it in every way. When she came out, she was dressed in a dark blue halter top, with a strap that tied around her neck, and the usual loincloth that was being held up with a stylish belt.

She giggled at the sight of the trio's gawking. "So does the drool mean it looks good?"

Lex was the first to gain his voice back. "Wow Crys, you look great."

She couldn't stop herself from blushing. "Thanks Lex. Now how about we start patrols?"

Goliath had paired Crystal up with Lexington, and had sent them to patrol the east side. She was just so excited about her first night back on patrol, that she was able to convince him to play a short game of tag.

After a while, she had decided to give up. The smaller gargoyle was just too fast for her. "Seems to be a pretty quiet night tonight, huh?"

"Well, it's still pretty early. Don't write it off just yet."

He didn't know how right he was. At that moment, a laser pulse came out of nowhere, and hit him square in the chest. It caught him completely off guard, and he began plummeting towards the earth.

"Lex!" she dove down, and caught him only 20 feet from the ground. Slowly, she gained some altitude, landed on a rooftop, and carefully laid him on his back. Looking him over, she saw that he had also been knocked unconscious, but luckily was still breathing. "Well this was a great way to start my patrols." she didn't have the strength to carry him all the way back to the castle, so she decided to wait until he was able to come to. "I just hope whoever hit you was just testing out their aim."

"Oh, if only it was that simple."

Crystal's head snapped up to see a red-haired, blue gargoyle standing before her, holding a laser. "Who are you?"

"The clan hasn't told you about me? Well I must say I'm shocked, but not at all insulted." she aimed the laser and fired, hitting the young gargress in the stomach. Demona walked up to the two unconscious gargoyles, and nudged them both with her tail. "Two for the price of one. This night's turning out better than I hoped."

"Crys! Crystal, wake up!"

Crystal groaned as she slowly sat up. "Lex? Is that you?"

"Yeah it's me. You okay?"

She looked at her surroundings, and desperately hoped she was dreaming. She was locked in a jail-like cell, with chains on her wrists and ankles, which in turn, were bolted to the floor. Lex was in the cell next to her, but instead of having chains on his wrists, he had one around his neck. "I guess I am. Where are we?"

He shrugged. "Not a clue. When I woke up, we were already here. Did you get a look at who shot me?"

"Yes, it was the same one who shot me afterwards. A gargoyle with blue skin and red hair. Ring any bells?"

"More like an alarm. Her name's Demona, and she's the one who betrayed our clan over a thousand years ago."

Her eyes widened. "**She's** the immortal gargoyle from Scotland?"

"It seems word gets around." both gargoyles looked up to see the immortal gargress walk into the room. "I hope you two are enjoying yourselves."

Lexington growled. "What do you want with us Demona?"

"You'll find out soon enough." she looked at Crystal. "What are you staring at?"

"I... I just can't believe it's actually you."

"What on earth are you talking about?"

She got to her feet. "You were fighting with the Allies in World War Two. At the time when Hitler betrayed Mussolini and attacked, my grandfather was on the front lines. He would have been killed by a grenade that he hadn't noticed land beside him, 'if it weren't for the blue Guardian angel that had come to protect the Italian troops', as he put it. You became the greatest ally to his battalion, and one of the greatest friends he ever had. He spoke very highly of you, although I can't see why."

Demona racked her brain for the events of that war. "You're lying. There were no other gargoyles in that war. If there were, I would have known." She looked the young gargoyle over. "What are you trying to pull?"

Crystal smirked. She had always wanted to meet the gargoyle her grandfather had befriended, and now that she had... well, she wasn't sure what to think. "I'm just telling you the facts. You can believe what you want." she walked right up to the bars. "Now what do you want with me and Lex?"

The blue gargoyle copied her move. "Don't worry. You'll find out soon enough." she turned around and walked out of the room.

"So, Demona did actually have human friends."

Crystal cloaked her wings and sat down. "You'd be surprised."

The next night when the clan awoke, there were still two empty spots. Elisa had stopped by for a few minutes, and told them that she hadn't been able to learn anything about the two gargoyles' whereabouts. Not having a clue as to where they could be, and not having any leads, the clan was reduced to doing a blind search of the city.

While everyone had paired up for the search, Brooklyn had decided to go off on his own. Lex and Crystal's disappearance was affecting him more than anyone else. Not only was his rookery brother missing, but also the female that he had feelings for. And this time, he knew his feelings for her were more than just because she was female. At first they were, but the more time they spent together, the more he fell for who she was. It was nowhere near like the times when he thought he loved Angela or Maggie.

He caught a thermal and landed atop the Empire State Building. Leaning on the railing, he looked over the city, making it seem as if he could see everything that was happening. "Wherever you two are, I hope you're okay."

* * *

"Don't hurt him!" Crystal was pulling against her chains as hard as she could, but it was no use, she couldn't break loose.

Demona was inside Lex's cell, holding a .357 magnum to his head. "His life depends on your decision."

She stopped struggling and slumped her shoulders. "I... I'll do whatever you want."

"Crystal, no! You can't do this! Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself."

"Lex, you can barely move three feet in either direction, and I would never be able to forgive myself if something happened to you. This... this is the only way."

"I knew you'd see things my way." Demona grabbed the barrel of the gun and butt-ended the smaller gargoyle in the base of his head.

"You said you wouldn't hurt him!"

"I said I wouldn't kill him." she stepped outside the call and locked it. "Enjoy his company while you can, because this may be the last time you see him."

She wasn't going to hold her anger back any longer. Her eyes began to glow a hellish red. "You'll pay for this Demona. I swear, once the clan comes to get us out of here, you'll pay."

Demona turned around and grinned evilly. "Let me guess, you're expecting Brooklyn to come in here charging, right?" the expression on Crystal's face told her everything. "I'll let you in on a little secret." she stepped closer to the bars. "He'll go for any female with a tail. Since my daughter has a mate, you became the next in line." she turned and left, leaving the gargoyle to think about what she had said.

The glow in Crystal's eyes vanished as Demona's words repeated themselves in her mind. _He'll go for any female with a tail. _She couldn't possibly be right, could she? Suddenly, any feelings she thought she might have had for the crimson gargoyle were called into question.

A few minutes later Demona returned, holding an amulet. She stuck her hand through the bars of Crystal's cell. "Wear this."

She reached out and took the chain. "What is it?"

"It's the Seal of Merbeulis, but with a few minor adjustments. This is to make sure you do exactly as I tell you." She waited patiently as Crystal hesitantly put the chain around her neck. "And I'd advise you to keep your distance from the clan." she said as she walked towards the door.

The amulet glowed dimly for a few seconds. "What... What happens if I don't?"

Demona stopped at the door, turned, and smirked. "They may not survive the encounter."


	4. Chap 4: When It All Comes Crashing Down

Gargoyles does not belong to me. Disney owns it. I just enjoyed it so much that I thought I'd use their characters to write a story. Everything else is mine. Every character that did not appear in the show is mine. You hear me! MINE! (sweet smile)

Enjoy!

**New Life, New Beginnings: Chapter 4**

**When It All Comes Crashing Down**

Over the weeks, Crystal had learned about Demona's hatred for humans, and how far she was willing to go to wipe them off the face of the earth. Of course, there was nothing she could do about it. She knew nothing of magic, and every time she tried to remove the amulet, it burned her. No matter what, she was under Demona's control, until she was no longer of use.

"Crystal!"

Sighing, she walked into the immortal's study. "Yes, Demona?"

"I need you to get another artefact for me." she handed her a piece of paper. "Here's a photo of it. Now go, you're wasting time."

Knowing what would happen if she didn't, she reluctantly went out onto the balcony and took off towards the museum. During her flight, she kept thinking as to how she was going to get Lex out of his cell. He was getting weaker by the night, and anyone could easily see that soon he would only be surviving due to sheer will. Even if she could never go back to the clan, there was no way she was going to let him never see his family again.

Nearly a month had passed, and the clan still hadn't heard anything from their two missing clan mates. All but one had nearly given up all hope: Brooklyn. Every night during and after his patrol, he searched. From dusk until dawn he went looking, but always came back empty handed. Tonight, he had to delay his search. There had been numerous robberies at the museum, and no one had even been able to catch a glimpse of the thief.

He was just gliding by the museum, when he noticed a figure climb out of the skylight. Eyes blazing white, he growled and landed on the rooftop. "Your museum robbing days are over." The figure hadn't even noticed him until he had spoken. They looked straight at him, and there was no denying whose eyes he was looking at. The glow immediately vanished from his eyes. "Crystal?"

Her wings flared and she stepped back. "Brooklyn! What are you doing here?!"

"You're the museum robber? But... why? And where have you been all this time? Where's Lex?" the questions just kept popping into his head.

"Brooklyn please, you wouldn't understand. I have to do this, for Lex's survival." She kept backing up, but he kept walking forward. "Please, Brooklyn, don't come near me." Her eyes began to well up.

"Crystal, what are you talking about? C'mon, show me where Lex is, and then we can go back to the castle." He offered his hand out to her.

The tears were now streaming down her face. "Brooklyn please! I'm begging you, for your safety, you have to leave." The amulet around her neck began to glow.

"I'm not leaving without you!"

"And I'm telling you, you have to!" she closed her eyes and held her head as pain coursed through her body. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing a bright blue.

Before he knew what was happening, she leapt towards him and knocked him down. She sat on his legs and slashed his chest repeatedly. Roaring in pain, he managed to flip her over his head, and struggled to get to his feet. Crystal was quick to get up, and head butted him in the stomach, and once again sent him sprawling.

Bleeding and bruised, he slowly sat up. "Crystal, what are you doing? It's me, Brooklyn!"

But no reply came. She simply growled and charged him again. He didn't want to hurt her, so he kicked up his legs, and sent her flying over his head.

He looked at the glowing amulet around her neck, and was able to put two and two together. "Crystal, listen to me! You can't let that thing control you!" Still, nothing. He got up, and was barely able to dodge a roundhouse kick to his head. "Crystal, it's me, Brooklyn! Re-remember your second night here, when just the two of us went out gliding?" he stopped a punch to his temple. "Or the time we went out for takeout?" he nearly fell backwards trying to avoid a swipe to his beak. "What about the celebration we had for you a few weeks ago? When we had our first dance together?"

That struck a cord within her. She stopped her attack, and stared at him, eyes still glowing blue. She shook her head, as if trying to clear her mind, and quickly ran to the edge of the building and glided away. Brooklyn watched as she glided farther and farther away. He looked down at his bleeding chest, and glided back to the castle. At least now he knew they were alive.

* * *

"What took you so long?"

Crystal handed Demona the artefact. "Unforeseen events."

She grabbed the young gargress' hands, and saw the blood upon them. "You ran into one from the clan. So tell me, who was it?"

Tears began to well up in her eyes again. "Brooklyn."

Demona smiled, but she didn't bother to ask her whether she had killed him or not. "Good. Now, get yourself something to eat. I may send you on another errand tomorrow."

"Why is it that I don't attack Lexington?"

Demona stopped at the doorway, and turned around. There was a certain sadness in her eyes. "Ask that after you have encountered my daughter." Before Crystal could ask what she meant, she turned and left.

Trying to shake the question from her mind, she washed her hands and prepared some food. It was more for Lexington than herself. She had to find a way to help the smaller gargoyle escape, and if she was going to, then she needed to make sure he would have the strength for it.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she saw her clan brother just staring at the floor. Her heart ached to see him like this, especially since she knew she was the one to blame. She unlocked his cell door, placed the food in front of him, and sat next to him. "How are you feeling?"

He simply shrugged. "Fine, I guess."

His spirit had nearly been broken, and she only wished she had been alone that night on patrol. If she had, he would still be with the clan, and wouldn't be on the edge of giving up hope on everything. "Lex, I'm real sorry about all this. If I could take back everything that's happened to you over the past few weeks, I would." she placed her hand on his shoulder. "But you gotta eat. I would never be able to forgive myself if you died while under my... well, protection."

"What's the point Crys? What are the chances Demona's gonna let us go free? And even if she did, it'd be so far from now that the clan would have already given up hope in finding us."

"The chances are slim to none, I know. But what if I told you that before the sun rises, the clan will know we're alive."

He looked at her with confusion. "How?"

"I ran another errand for Demona, and Brooklyn was patrolling that area. As I climbed back onto the roof, Brooklyn noticed and confronted me, and I told him that you were safe." A tear rolled down her cheek.

"Demona wasn't lying when she said to stay away from the clan, was she?"

She shook her head. "No, she wasn't. It wasn't long before the spell on this stupid thing kicked in, and I attacked him." she wiped her eyes. "I couldn't stop myself. I had absolutely no control over my body."

Fear coursed through his body. "D-did you kill him?"

She took a deep breath and sighed. "No. I can't remember what he said, but it helped me gain some control, and I took that opportunity to run." She shook her head to try and remove the vivid memory from her mind. "Either way, the clan will know we're alive, and if they can't find us within the week, I'll get you out of here."

"And how do you plan on doing that? You only have the key to the cell."

"I'll figure out a way. No matter what, by the end of the week," she kissed the top of his head. "You will be back with the clan. I promise you that."

* * *

"We have to go find them!"

"We will, but we first need to narrow down the places of where they could be." Elisa placed a reassuring hand on Brooklyn's shoulder. "And you need to rest. There's no way you're going anywhere with that injury of yours."

Brooklyn reluctantly nodded and sat back down. He was pretty much useless now that it hurt just to breathe. "I just don't like the feeling of being useless."

"You will have a part in this search Brooklyn." said Goliath. "You will remain here and mark out on the maps the places we have searched."

Xanatos came forward with a map for each of the boroughs, and placed them on the table. "Fox and I would be happy to help you out Brooklyn."

He started rolling out the maps. "That'd be a great help, thanks." he scanned the maps. "I think it'd be a good idea if we started out close to the castle and moved out from there."

Goliath nodded. "Agreed. Hudson, you're with me. Broadway, you and Angela start with the south end, Hudson and I will take the north."

As soon as they had left, Brooklyn turned towards David. "Is there a way to put a tracking device on someone without them seeing you?"

"It's slightly difficult, but it can be done. What do you have planned?"

"You know as well as I do that we've searched the entire city, and haven't found anything. They only way we're going to find Crystal and Lex is if we have someone posted at the museum, and plant the bug on her next time she goes back."

Fox sat down beside him. "What makes you say she'll go back?"

He sighed deeply. "I didn't tell the clan everything." He glanced at the two humans. "Crystal told me that she was doing it for Lex's survival. We can only hope that their kidnapper will send her out for another artefact."

Little did they know that up on the tallest tower, Crystal had silently arrived. Demona had gone out for who knows what reason, and she had taken that chance to make the trip. Looking around to make sure no one was around, she placed a folded note atop Broadway's perch, and placed a small stone on it to keep it from blowing away. She hopped over to Brooklyn's perch, and did the same thing. Taking one last look at the castle, she wiped away a tear and glided away as fast as she could. She couldn't stand the fact that the closest she could be to the clan, was if there was a wall between her and them.

The four gargoyles returned from their search four hours later, and again, had come back empty-handed. There was nothing else they could do for the night, as dawn was fast approaching.

"Hey Broadway, what's that?"

"What's what?" he looked to where his mate was pointing, and noticed the piece of paper on his perch. He removed the stone, unfolded it, and quickly scanned what was written. "It's from Crystal!" he shouted. The clan gathered around him as he read the note aloud.

_Hello everyone,_

_I know how worried you all must be about me and Lexington, but rest assured, we're fine. It's been a long and stressful month for us all, and we can't wait until we're back with you. I can only imagine the amount of searching you've all done, and it helps us get through the night knowing we have a family who wants us back with them as soon as possible._

_Now here's the hard part: I've got good news, and bad news. The good news is, I think I've found a way to get Lex out of here and back with you. The bad news is, the same can't be said for me. As much as I want to be back, there's no way I can without bringing you harm. My attack on Brooklyn is proof of that. I can only return once I am of no use to our kidnapper. Expect to have Lex back within a week._

_Know that I am thinking of you all._

_Sincerely,_

_Crystal_

The last few lines had become harder to read, as the ink had been smudged with her tears.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute." Brooklyn waved his arms. "Is she saying she wants us to stop searching?"

Broadway reread the note. "Looks that way."

"That's insane! We can't stop searching for her!"

"We will discuss it tonight." said Goliath. "Perhaps when Lexington returns, we will have the information we need to find Crystal."

Brooklyn knew he was right. He walked over to his perch, and noticed there was a note on it, addressed to him. He unfolded it and sat on his perch to read it.

_Hey Brooklyn,_

_I'm hoping you're reading this after the first note, and if you are, I can safely assume that you're upset about me wanting you to stop searching. But you need to see this from where I'm standing. You know that I have almost no control over myself. You experienced that first-hand. I'm sure you noticed the amulet around my neck, and believe me, I've tried multiple times to take it off, but I can't. I would never be able to forgive myself if I hurt the clan. I can barely forgive myself for what I did to you. No matter how hard I try, I can't get the images of my attacking you at the museum out of my head, and it's killing me. Believe me, I'm doing this in the best interests of the clan. I can't wait for the day when I can be around my clan, and not worry about whether you'll be able to survive until sunrise or not._

_You don't know how badly I want to be back with you, with all of you. And you have no idea how much I miss getting my daily hugs from you. But I'm begging you, if you want me back as much as I want to be back, you WILL give up the search for me. I know you don't want to, but you MUST. If you care about me, and if you care about the clan, you'll even go as far as to forget about me. But no matter how long it takes, I WILL come back. I promise._

_Miss and love ya,_

_Crystal_

The writing began to smudge as a few tears rolled down Brooklyn's beak, and fell onto the page. He knew she was right, but he didn't want to stop looking for her. When he had found her at the museum, he wanted to wrap her in his wings and never let her go. It was what happened soon afterwards that made him want to search until he collapsed from exhaustion. Having someone he cared for under someone else's control angered him, even more so with that person being her. He stood up and tucked the note into his pouch. Absently, he touched the bandages around his chest and caped his wings, just as the sun rose and turned him to stone.


	5. Chapter 5: Home Is Where The Heart Is

As always, Gargoyles is not mine. I'm just having fun. Please don't sue.

**New Life, New Beginnings: Chapter 5**

**Home Is Where The Heart Is**

A week had gone by, and Crystal had finally found a way to help Lexington escape. The only problem was, she didn't know if she would be able to pull it off. It wasn't that she wouldn't be able to get past Demona, it was her security system that was the problem.

So there she sat, in Lex's cell, picking the locks with a bobby pin she had taken from Demona's bathroom.

"Are you sure this is gonna work?"

"Trust me, it will. And if it doesn't... well... I'll make sure it does."

They sat in silence for another few minutes, until Crystal silently cheered. "Yes! I got it!"

Lexington rubbed his neck. "Man, it feels good to have that off. And that only took what? An hour?"

She shot him a look. "You try picking a lock with a bobby pin for the first time in your life, see how long it takes you. Actually," she reached into her hair and pulled another pin out. "You do one ankle, I'll do the other."

He just stared at her. "You're kidding me, right?"

She placed the pin in his hand. "No I'm not. Besides, we can get it done faster. Now c'mon, sit on that butt of yours and let me work on an ankle-lock. And try not to break the pin; I wasn't able to take many."

Sighing, he sat down and began picking the lock. "Are you sure this is what you wanna do?"

"Lex, getting you out of here is the -"

"I didn't mean getting me out." he interrupted. "I meant leaving you here. There has to be a way to get that thing off you. I mean, if we just -"

"How many other sorcerers do you know?" she nearly screamed. "This has to be done separately. I'll get myself out of here, it's just gonna be a while before I do." she heard a reassuring click. "Just one lock left Lex, and then you're a free gargoyle."

"Do you **really** have to knock me out for this?"

"Believe me, if I could avoid it I would, especially since I wouldn't have to carry you. But don't worry, it won't hurt. I'm not sure if you guys have the same pressure points as humans, but we'll find out." she chuckled at his worried expression. "It's a lot better than the alternative."

"I don't even wanna think about it."

"Good, 'cause you wouldn't like it."

"Great." he jiggled the pin a little bit, and heard the lock click open. "See, it didn't take me an hour."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Rub it in my face, why don't ya?" Reluctantly, she reached for a spot between his neck and shoulder. "Remember, I'm doing this because I love you like a brother." he was only able to nod once before she squeezed and knocked him out. "Now, for the fun part."

After failing a few times, she was finally able to get him into her arms. She climbed up the stairs as fast as she could, and peering through the door, made sure the coast was clear. As fast as her legs could carry her and the green gargoyle, she quietly but quickly made her way through the halls, and onto the balcony. Just a few steps and a jump and...

"Crystal!"

She spun around, and saw Demona standing there, eyes glowing a hellish red. "Oh shit."

"What in the hell are you doing?! Get back here!"

She resisted, and she felt the amulet send a minor shock through her body. Ignoring the pain, and the plans Demona could have in-store for her when she returned, she hopped onto the rail and glided away.

The glow in her eyes faded away. "That foolish, naive girl; risking her life for him. She'll be sorry she did in a short time."

And Demona was right. In a few short minutes, the amulet was sending wave after wave of pain through her body, and the extra weight of Lex wasn't helping her any. She flapped her wings to gain some speed, and landed on the nearest rooftop. She laid him down as gently and quickly as she could, and collapsed in pain beside him. Using every ounce of strength she had left, she forced herself back onto her feet and just let herself drop off the roof, letting her wings do all the work. Keeping her wings open was hard enough without having to flap them to gain speed. As much as she didn't want to, she had to get back to Demona's as fast as possible, if only to make the pain go away.

In what seemed like hours, she finally reached the manor. Her wings snapped back, and she crashed down onto the balcony. /Thank goodness the days are long./ she thought.

"I'm surprised you were able to make it back."

Groaning, she lifted her head to see Demona standing over her. "Why... didn't you try... to stop me?"

"I wanted to see how resilient you actually were. You think I didn't know you were going to try and break him out?" she knelt down to bring her face closer to Crystal's. "I have cameras everywhere. There isn't anything I haven't heard or seen since I captured you."

She tried to stand, and was surprised when Demona helped her up. "Why... what do you want with me? You have all the artefacts you need."

The immortal gargoyle helped her to the couch. "The spell requires the blood of a young, virgin warrior, who is pure at heart. You fit into every category."

/Well, not every category./ she thought. "You're kind to me, and yet you have to kill me. Not every person can say that about their great-grandmother." Her eyes widened and she slapped her hand over her mouth as she realized what she had said.

"Your grandmother?! What on earth are you talking about?! I'm not your grandmother!"

She looked down to the floor. "Uh, well, biologically you're not. You see, you assumed that when I told you about my grandfather, that he was a gargoyle." she looked back up at the blue gargress. "He was a human. His name was Antonio DiMaggio. You raised his son, Tony DiMaggio, until he was 24."

"Why that's preposterous! I didn't -" she cut herself off, as the events of that war made themselves known. She remembered saving a human from a grenade, and then striking a deal with him: if she kept him alive at night, he would protect her during the day. That deal eventually spread out to his entire battalion. After the war, he offered to let her live with him and his wife for as long as she needed. She was hesitant, but it would make roosting during the day much easier, not always having to find a new hiding spot everyday. Plus, she would be getting free meals; no more hunting for small animals to survive.

A year had passed, and his wife had gotten pregnant. Another nine months passed, and she had given birth to a healthy baby boy, which they had decided to name Tony. Another seven years had gone by, and Antonio and his wife decided to have a night on the town. They had asked their blue guardian to take care of their son, and although she had protested, saying she knew nothing of human children, she finally gave in to their pleas. The entire night had passed, and they hadn't returned. It wasn't until the next night, when she had picked up the newspaper that she found out that they had been killed; a random murder. She knew that the child wouldn't be able to take care of himself, and even though she wanted to leave him, something inside her told her she couldn't. It wasn't easy, but she was able to tell him gently about what had happened to his parents, and how they would have to leave. She could still remember the conversation they had soon afterwards.

_"Tony, do you know what I am?"_

_ "A gargoyle! Nonna's a gargoyle!"_

_ She despised the name he had given her, but at least it was a change from being called a demon. "Yes, that's right. Do you think it's fun being a gargoyle?"_

_ "Uh huh. Nonna gets to fly!"_

_ "Yes, she does. Now Tony, I want you to think about this. Since your mother and father are on a... trip, I have to take care of you. But there's a problem with that. Do you know what that problem is?"_

_ He took his time in answering. "You sleep all day."_

_ "Yes, I do. Now, how would you like to be a gargoyle?"_

_ "And fly around like Nonna?"_

_ "You'll get to do everything that Nonna does."_

_ Again, he took his time in answering. He knew an important decision when he heard one. "Yup."_

She had never had the chance to use the spell before, and she hoped it would work. She had been saving it for another occasion, since the caster could only use it once, but she decided this was as good a time as any. The effects of the spell would be that the subject would take on the physical and biological aspects of the caster's choice, until it was reversed. There was a side affect to the spell, but that portion of the page had been torn away. So for the next 17 years, she raised him as if he was her own. She raised him as a gargoyle, but knowing that one day he would leave her, she taught him what she could about the human race.

Snapping back to reality, she looked at the young gargoyle sitting before her. She could now see the similarities between the two. "You were born a human, correct?"

"Yes."

"When did the change happen?"

"About a month before my 24th birthday."

/So this was the side affect./ she thought. Not giving it a second thought, she chanted a few words, waited for the amulet to stop glowing, and tore it away from Crystal's neck. "As soon as you are physically able, you can leave." And marched out of the room.

Crystal was left sitting there, wondering what the hell had just happened.

* * *

Lexington groaned as he brought his hand to his head, and slowly sat up. Looking at his surroundings, he realized that what had happened wasn't a dream. Crystal had actually been able to get him out. He could remember one time when she had gone against Demona's orders, and he couldn't stand to see the amount of pain she had gone through. He could only imagine how much she had suffered to help him escape. He rubbed his temples, and noticed that a piece of paper had been tucked into his belt. He removed and unfolded it.

_Remember what I told you. Say nothing._

"Yeah, I know." he told no one. Tucking the paper back into his belt, he jumped off the ledge and glided back to the castle. He'd need the note to prove to the clan he wasn't willingly holding back information.

His return to the clan had been a joyous one. As soon as he had walked inside the castle, the clan had nearly tackled him in their joy of seeing him. Once he had gotten some breathing room, he answered the biggest question that was on their minds: who was the kidnapper?

"I can't say."

"What?!" they all said in unison.

Brooklyn stepped closer to his brother. "Why not?!"

"Crystal asked me not to. I don't know why, but," he pulled the note out of his belt and passed it to his brother. "This proves that I'm not lying."

Snatching the note from his hand, Brooklyn unfolded and read the note. He growled, allowing his eyes to glow a brilliant white, as he crumpled the paper, threw it on the ground, and stormed off.

Lex shook his head. "I had a feeling he'd react that way."

Angela bent down and picked up the crumpled paper. "So... she's never coming back?"

He sighed. "She promised me she would... eventually. And, even if she wanted us to go rescue her, it'd be pointless."

Broadway wrapped his arms around his mate to try and comfort her. "Why do you say that?"

"There... she's got an amulet around her neck. As long as she has it on, she has to do whatever... our kidnapper says, and somehow the thing can tell whenever one of the clan is around her. That's why she attacked Brooklyn. It'd be suicide for us to go after her."

"Yet, you remain unharmed." Goliath stated. "Why is that?"

"Our kidnapper seemed to have... somewhat of a heart. They wanted Crystal to have some company, but I was also used as leverage."

"But what about the stolen artefacts?" asked Angela. "Wouldn't it be possible to track her down when she goes to steal another one?"

Lexington shook his head. "It **would** work, only all the artefacts needed are in the kidnapper's possession. Don't know why they still need Crystal though."

It was at that moment when, somewhere inside the castle, they heard something crash onto the floor, with a long line of curse words following.

Hudson sighed and shook his head. "I'll go check on the lad. Of only tae make sure he doesn't decided tae tear the whole castle apart." He strolled towards where the noise and swearing had come from, with Bronx following closely behind.

**The next night...**

Knowing that she wouldn't have the strength nor the energy to leave that night, she decided to stay the night. Besides, Demona did say that she could leave when she was physically able to. Problem was, her stone sleep had cured her of the previous night's injuries. Normally, this would be a good thing, but in Crystal's case, she just wasn't ready to leave.

Shortly after breaking out of her stone skin, Demona walked into the room. "I would have expected you to have left by now."

"I... I just can't leave." she stammered.

Demona, with a sigh, crossed her arms. "Let me guess. Now that Lexington has returned to the clan, you want to wait until they come barging into my home, attack me, and take you back with them."

She flopped onto the couch. "The clan won't be coming for me. Lex won't tell the clan it was you."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her eye ridges furrowed. "Explain."

"I don't want the clan coming after you."

Now she was really confused. The only one that ever showed an emotion other than anger towards her was Angela. "Why not?"

Crystal started playing with the end of her tail. "Because if it wasn't for you, I'd of probably never been born. You insured that my father would survive long enough to get married and have a kid." she looked up at the other gargoyle. "In a way, you're family. And... I can't allow family to be hurt."

Now **that** shocked her. She never expected someone to consider - or even call her - family. But now she had gotten curious. "What happened to your family to make you consider **me** part of it?"

"My parents were killed by a drunk driver. The rest of my family, except for one cousin, disowned me after my transformation. I've got no one left."

"You've got the clan. Why do you need me?"

"You raised my dad. You're the only one alive from his side of the family."

Demona uncrossed her arms and placed her hands on her hips. "Well you're out of luck. Angela is the only family I need or what." she turned around to leave the room.

Crystal quickly stood up. "And how do you think she'll feel when she finds out that her mother tried to wipe out the human race **again**, and was going to kill a member of her clan to reach her goal?"

She stopped dead in her tracks, and slowly turned around. "For wanting me to be a part of your family, you don't seem to have a problem with blackmailing."

"Lex told me about how Angela's tried to make you give up your grudge against humanity. About how you keep telling her she doesn't understand, just because she grew up in a sheltered environment." she took a few steps forward. "I can see why you hate humanity so much, but you have **got** to give up this vendetta!"

"What do you care? You're not human anymore, your family abandoned you. Your parents were taken away by some drunken imbecile."

"Which is why I can understand your hatred for them. It's a selfish, bloodthirsty race. I may not have experienced the wars like you have, but I now live in a country whose president bombs the hell out of near-defenceless countries, just so that he can control majority of the world's oil supply. Thousands of people have lost their lives, because a war-loving moron got greedy." The blue gargress was shocked at the younger one's outburst. "And just two months ago, London was attacked by cowards who want nothing more than to see the world fall to its knees in defeat." she took a deep breath and lowered her voice. "You can't possibly tell me that after befriending my grandparents, after raising my father, that you think humanity has nothing good going for it. You obviously cared for them, to have done what you did."

She had a point. She may have raised him as a gargoyle, but inside, he was still a human. Just like the gargoyle standing before her. The young one understood her feelings toward the humans, even agreed with her on some of them. Angela had never been able to see things from her point of view. She looked at the young gargoyle and said, "I'm surprised you can understand my hatred for humans and not hate them. Though you have me all wrong. You think that because I befriended a few humans, I can befriend them all? Never! They are petulance, and live in ignorance of the superior race that gargoyles are!" she stepped forward and grabbed Crystal by her chin. "Do you really want me as family?"

Crystal gulped. She should have expected Demona to act somewhat like this. "I, well... yes, I do."

Demona grinned. "Then join me in my fight against these pests!"

The tanned-coloured gargoyle's eyes widened. "I... can't do that! My friends are human! I would never do anything to hurt them!"

She let Crystal go. "Then leave my home. You are no longer of use to me."

"I can't believe you would do something so horrible, that you would risk your relationship with your daughter."

Demona's eyes began to glow. "You leave my daughter out of this!"

"No, I won't! Angela's like a sister to me, and I won't let her get hurt because her mother is holding a thousand-year old grudge!"

The glow in her eyes dimmed. "You care that much about Angela?"

Crystal faintly smiled. "Yes, I do. And that's why I'm asking you to give this up. You can go ahead and hate humanity. I mean heck, who doesn't from time to time? All I'm asking is that you stop trying to kill them. You know that Angela would never forgive you if you succeeded."

Demona closed her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. When she opened them, the glow was gone. "I'll let it go... **this** time. But don't think I've had a sudden change of heart."

"No, no, not at all. Believe me, this would make Angela very proud." Now came the tough question. "Since, you're not going to kill them this time, do you think you could return those stolen artefacts?"

"Seeing as I can't kill you now, yes, you can return them. Just, try not to be seen when you're doing it."

Crystal had eagerly put the artefacts into a box, and glided over to the 23rd precinct, where she left the box on the front steps. What she didn't count on was a patrolling Broadway, who had seen and followed her back to Demona's. He wasted no time in gliding back to the castle.

"We're wasting time here!" Brooklyn shouted.

"We cannot go charging in there!" Goliath reminded him.

"Just watch me!" before anyone could react, he ran out of the castle and glided away.

Goliath let out a frustrated growl. "Broadway, Hudson, come with me. We don't know what he might try if he gets too far ahead of us."

"But Father..." Angela protested.

"No Angela, you will stay here. We gave Demona the benefit of the doubt, and it was a mistake." Without another word, the three males rushed out and tried to catch up to their enraged clan member.

* * *

Demona and Crystal were sitting down at the kitchen table, each with a cup of coffee, when they heard the balcony glass doors breaking.

Demona groaned. "Why did my alarms not go off?" she quickly got to her feet. "Stay here, I'll take care of this." Before Crystal could protest, the blue gargoyle left to see what was happening.

Just in case something went wrong, Crystal followed, hiding around the corner, peeking around to see. The sight that met her eyes surprised her.

Brooklyn stood at his full height, his wings flared and eyes glowing a hot white. "Demona! Where's Crystal?!"

Calmly, Demona cloaked her wings. "It's common courtesy to knock before entering someone's home."

He was about to attack, when three other figures landed behind him and walked in. Goliath shot a warning glance at Brooklyn, and looked back at his former mate. "Demona, where is she?"

"I haven't the faintest idea who you're talking about." she then thought, **/**Why am I protecting her?/

Brooklyn took a threatening step forward, but Broadway held him back. "Calm down bro. We're not gonna solve anything if you don't control your temper."

"What's there to solve?!" Brooklyn growled. "You saw with your own eyes that Crystal came here!" he broke free of his brother's grasp and charged at Demona.

Crystal forced herself to stay hidden while the events in front of her unfolded. But when she saw Brooklyn rush forward, she couldn't stay back any longer. She ran as fast as she could and stood in front of Demona, forcing Brooklyn to stop abruptly.

"Crystal!" Remembering what happened last time he saw her, he took a cautious step back. "Listen to me Crys. We need to get that amulet..." he looked at her neck, and noticed that the amulet was no longer there. The glow in his eyes dimmed. "Crystal, where's the amulet?"

"That doesn't matter. What I wanna know is, how did you find out I was here?"

"Broadway followed you here. What I don't understand is, why didn't you want Lex to tell us you were here?"

She ignored his question. "Why didn't you listen to what I wrote to you in that note?"

The glow in his eyes was nearly gone. "Because I found out you were here. I... I couldn't just leave you here with Demona. Who knows what she could have done to you!"

Crystal crossed her arms. "Well, let's see. Demona removed the amulet yesterday, let me spend the day here so that I could recuperate, and she hasn't tried to kill me since sunset. We've gotten along quite nicely actually." All four males' eyes widened in shock. "Yeah, that's right. Now if you don't mind, could you please leave? I'll be right behind you."

"Crys, there's no way -"

"And there's no way you're hurting Demona, Brooklyn. You want to get to her, you'll have to go through me first."

Hudson began to gently pull Brooklyn away. "Come lad, we'll discuss this at the castle." With Broadway's help, they were able to get the crimson gargoyle into the balcony, and in the air towards the castle.

Goliath wasn't too sure what to make of the situation. "I expect you to explain everything." And without another word, he walked out the broken door and left.

"You defended me. Why?"

Crystal turned around. "Family protects each other." She suddenly felt a little awkward. "I... I'll see you around, I guess." She walked onto the balcony. "Sorry about the door." she jumped onto the rail, and glided away.

Demona shook her head, and smiled. "A strange one, she is."

* * *

Crystal had barely landed in the courtyard, before she was bombarded with questions. Even though it had annoyed her, she had - as calmly as possible - told the clan everything that had happened. Angela was delighted to find out that her mother had actually cared for a human; even raised one. Everyone had been shocked by her story, excluding Lex; she had told him everything before she had helped him escape.

"And that's what happened."

"So did my mother tell you why the transformation happened?"

She shook her head. "No. I was just about to ask her, when **somebody** decided to make an appearance." she glared at Brooklyn. "Look, I'm tired. If no one minds, and if this question period's over, I'd like to go to my room." Not even bothering to wait for a response, she turned and made her way to her room.

Everyone else went off to do their own thing, but Brooklyn hadn't even moved. He was still a little surprised at what he had heard, and a little shocked from the glare Crystal had sent his way. Just before she reached her room, he ran after her. "Crystal, wait."

She didn't stop until she reached her door. "What do you want Brooklyn?"

He was taken aback by the harshness in her voice. "I-I'm sorry about what I did. I know now that I shouldn't have done what I did. But I only did it because I care about you."

"Do you? Really?" she snapped. "Tell me something, do you **actually** care about me? Or did you come barging in because I was your last chance at having a mate?"

Brooklyn mentally kicked himself when he realized what he had said. It wasn't the way he wanted to tell her he had feelings for her. Crystal's question was a simple one to answer, but it had caught him completely off guard, and for some other reason, he just wasn't able to answer.

Crystal didn't take the silence well. "I thought so." Quickly, she stepped into her room and slammed the door shut. She leaned back against the door and slid down to the floor. She was so upset, that she didn't even bother to try and hold back the tears that began to roll down her cheeks.

"It's not like that." he whispered. He grabbed at his hair and shook his head. "Why do I keep screwing things up with the opposite sex?!" he muttered angrily.

"You just haven't had the practice in dealing with them."

Brooklyn spun around to see Xanatos standing behind him. "How long have you been standing there?"

He put his hands in his pockets. "Long enough to know you need some help in dealing with women."

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious." He mumbled and turned to leave.

"I could help you, you know."

The crimson gargoyle stopped and slowly turned around. "You'd help me?" he raised an eye ridge. "What's in it for you?"

Xanatos slightly shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing. All I would get is the satisfaction of seeing you two together."

Brooklyn looked at him, then at Crystal's door, and back at the human. "What did you have in mind?"


	6. Chap 6: Just When Things Were Looking Up

Hello readers! I apologise for my lack of updates, but with the combination of school, work, and lack of a muse, I haven't been able to get anything going.

Anyways, I decided that with my long absence, I would answer a few questions.

lilpyro900 Now I can't very well give away why she's a cutter, now can I? ;) But don't worry, as the fic goes on, more of Crystal's life will be revealed.

totoro123 Yes, I realise it's been a year. :P Actually, thank you for the reminder. Got me to get my butt in gear. ;)

And now, on with the story...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gargoyles. I wish I did. Disney owns them. Everything about the show belongs to them. The only thing I own here are my characters, Crystal, and random others. Please don't sue.

_**Chapter 6: Just When Things Were Looking Up**_

**__**

A week later, things hadn't changed much. Whenever Brooklyn and Crystal bumped into each other, they simply apologized and kept going their separate ways; except for this night.

The sun set and the gargoyles broke free of their stone shells and roared to the heavens; except for Crystal. When she broke free from her stone shell, she was screaming and in a cold sweat. She collapsed to her hands and knees, panting.

Hudson was first to reach her side. "Lass, are ye alright?"

"I'm... fine." she said between gasps. "Just a day-mare." she gave him a weak smile. "Nothing to worry about."

With a curt nod and a comforting pat on the shoulder, Hudson went inside along with the rest of the clan.

Looking one last time over the city, she heaved a heavy sigh. "At least, I **hope** it was only a dream." Walking inside the castle, she made her way to her room. /Damn this extra sense of mine./

Closing her bedroom door behind her, she noticed the outfit that she had worn to her friend Sophia's graduation laid out on her bed, with a note on top. She picked up and read the note, which simply said, 'Wear me'. The writing seemed oddly familiar, but she couldn't place as to who would have done this. Shrugging mentally, she decided to change into the outfit. Obviously, someone had something planned out for her.

After changing into the skirt and top, she finally noticed that another note had been taped to the back of her door. She snatched the note off, and unfolded it. 'Come out to the courtyard' was all that was written. She felt a little awkward in walking through the castle in what she was wearing, but to her surprise, everyone seemed to have vanished.

"Odd." she said to herself.

Upon arriving to the courtyard, she saw a small table set up, with two lit candles atop. The whole thing was set up for two people, and, when she got closer, another note was on the table. She picked it up to see the words 'Turn around' written on it.

She quickly spun around, but was disappointed when there was nothing behind her. But she didn't have to wait long before she saw someone slowly step out of the shadows.

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Brooklyn?"

He was wearing a specially-made tux, with his hair tied back in a ponytail, and his wings folded behind him, with the wing talons resting on his shoulders.

He gave her a warm smile. "Wow Crys, you look beautiful."

She cloaked her wings. "Uh, thanks. You look great too." This felt extremely weird for her. She had spent the week trying to get over him, and now that he had gone and done this, all those feelings gradually started to resurface. "What's all this about?"

"We... had somewhat of a misunderstanding last week, and I wanted to apologise for what I did." He wanted to avoid looking her in the eye, but he forced himself to. "I can only imagine at how angry you are at me right now."

"I'm not angry at you Brooklyn, I haven't been angry for a few days now." She could no longer meet his gaze, and moved her sights to the ground. "You just confirmed what Demona told me when you didn't listen to what I told you in the letter."

Brooklyn suppressed a growl at the sound of the immortal's name, and took a few steps forward, so that he was standing only a few feet away from her. He had to make sure that what he was going to say didn't come out harsh. "What did she say about me?"

She couldn't bear to look at him. "She said that you would go after any female with a tail, and since Angela's with Broadway, that I became next in line for you to chase."

"It's not true." She slowly raised her head to look at him, with what looked like a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "I was like that when I was younger, but I learned from my mistakes, and I'm not about to repeat them for a third time."

The hope in her eyes had now turned to hurt. "Third? I thought Angela was the only one."

/Smooth move there, genius/ he thought. /You're trying to fix things up with her, and you've probably just made things a lot worse./ "If only she was. I had a crush on Maggie when I first met her."

She shook her head. "I... no." This was just too much for her to handle emotionally. She turned to leave, when she felt Brooklyn grab her wrist.

"Just hear me out, please." His heart nearly shattered to pieces in thinking he had lost her. She slowly turned around and looked back up at him. "It was a long time ago. It was a stupid, immature crush, and I took them both for granted. It's not something I'm proud of."

"And how do I know that I'm not just some crush, too?" Even though she was no longer sure of her feelings for him, she hoped with all her heart that his feelings for her were real. She could feel her eyes begin to water. "How do I know you're not taking me for granted?"

"Because I could never do that to you," he sighed in near-defeat. "I can understand why you wouldn't believe me, but... if this is going to be it for us, could we at least spend tonight together?"

She looked into his eyes, and expected to see desperation, neediness, and begging. But instead, she saw pain and hurt. She was still confused, now more than ever, about everything. /I don't want this to be it for us Brooklyn./ she thought. /But I don't know what to think or feel anymore./ But she knew that if this was the end for them, then she needed her last memory of the two of them together to be a good one. She held back the tears that were threatening to spill, and gave him a weak smile. "I'd be happy to spend the night with you."

Forcing himself to smile, he pulled out a chair and motioned for her to sit. She gave him a warm smile as she stood in front of the chair and allowed him to push it in for her. He walked to the other side of the table, and as soon he had sat down, Broadway, wearing a black bowtie and white cuffs, came out carrying two plates which were covered with domed lids.

He smiled at them both as he placed the plates on the table, and took off the lids. "Bon appatite."

Crystal's eyes widened in surprise and delight. "Japanese food! Brooklyn, I can't believe you remembered my favourite food."

"I, well..." he awkwardly cleared his throat and blushed. "How could I forget?" He watched as Broadway left, and Angela arrived, wearing the same bowtie and white cuffs, and carrying a bottle of wine. She pulled the cork off and filled the glasses halfway.

As Crystal watched her leave, she turned back and giggled. "How many others did you get to agree to help?"

A warm-hearted smile finally found its way to his beak. "Oh, you'd be surprised." At that moment Lexington came out, also wearing a bowtie, but he was carrying a stereo. He set it close to the table, pressed a button, and briskly walked back. Within seconds, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata began to play. "Although, I couldn't figure out how Lex could wear the cuffs, so we just opted against it."

The right corner of her mouth quirked upwards. "Who else did you get to help you?"

"Well, Fox picked out your outfit, and placed the notes where they were. Owen set out the table and everything, and Xanatos helped me out with the suit." /Among other things./ he thought.

/Maybe he was telling the truth./ Not even giving it a second thought, her tail found his, and she entwined them, giving his a gentle squeeze. She looked away and blushed as he looked at her with a slightly shocked expression.

Dinner was relatively quiet, neither one not really knowing what to say. Crystal was halfway through her second glass of wine when she noticed how nervous Brooklyn was looking.

She took another sip and placed the glass back on the table. "Brooklyn what's wrong? You look like you're about to start shaking."

"It's for good reason." While trying to steady himself, he got up from his chair and walked to Crystal's side. He gave a courteous bow, and outstretched his hand. "May I have this dance?"

She wasn't even thinking when she placed her hand in his and allowed herself to be led away from the table. Her mind didn't click onto what was happening until he had placed her left hand on his shoulder, and he had positioned his hand just under her wing.

"I thought you said you didn't know how to dance."

He grinned. "I didn't. Fox and Xanatos taught me how. Since you had learned ballroom dancing, they thought it'd be best for me to learn too."

/He's remembered things I told him about myself from when we first met./ She looked into his eyes, and even though she could still see the hurt in them, there was also a hint of joy in them too. /I think I may have been too quick to judge him. He's done all this, and I had almost completely pushed him away... twice./ She opened her mouth to say something, when off to the side, someone coughed politely.

Both gargoyles cursed under their breath and looked to see Broadway standing there, with a portable phone in his hand. "Sorry to interrupt, but there's a phone call for you Crystal." He noticed the upset look on Brooklyn's face, and quickly added, "I used every excuse short of saying you jumped off the Empire State Building, but they insisted it was important."

"It's no problem Broadway." she pulled away from Brooklyn and took the phone. "Thanks for trying though." He gave her a smile and a nod before going back inside the castle. She gave Brooklyn an apologetic look before lifting the phone to her ear. "Hello? Yes, this is Crystal DiMaggio." Her expression went from joy, to shock and horror within a few short minutes. When the conversation ended, she disconnected the call and held the phone to her chest.

Seeing something was wrong, Brooklyn stood behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Crystal what's wrong? Who was on the phone?"

She leaned against him and tried to take in the information she had received. "That... that was Dr James Conrad... from the Toronto General Hospital." she looked down at the phone and started fiddling with the antenna. "You remember my cousin Nicole, right?"

/Oh crap. This isn't going to be good news./ he thought. "She's an unforgettable character. Why, what happened?"

"Well, the whole thing started with the neighbours noticing that the house was on fire, and so they called 911. After the fire crews put out the flames, they went searching through the house. They were lucky in the fact that only the garage and kitchen was burnt down. Well, it didn't taken them too long to find Cole." She took a deep breath to steady her shaking voice. "They found her in the front hall, beaten and suffering from smoke inhalation."

"Beaten?"

"Yea, they're saying that whoever did it must have been let inside through the front door, because they couldn't find any points of forced entry on what was left of the house. But to make things worse, they tried calling her immediate family, and not one person could be reached." She raised her head to look at him. "I hate to have to do this Brooklyn, but I have to go back to Toronto."

He sighed. "I had a feeling you'd say that." He ran his talons through her hair. "But I know you have to."

As much as she didn't want him to have to stop, she knew he had to. She grasped his hand and pushed it away. "I'm sorry Brooklyn, but until I can get things worked out, we can't do this."

He nodded sombrely. "I understand." He took a step back and reached into the jacket pocket, pulling out a white envelope. "I was going to give this to you later, but seeing as you're leaving the country."

She took the envelope, and kissed him on top of his beak. "Thanks for understanding." She lingered a moment longer before she hiked up the front of her skirt and ran inside the castle.

"Anytime."

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Author's Note: Yes, I know it was a short chapter, compared to the others. But all the others should be a little longer. That's if my muse decides to make an appearance sometime soon...


	7. Chapter 7: It Just Keeps Getting Worse

Again, I do not own Gargoyles. I wish I did. I only own Crystal and Nicole.

_Hello, everyone! I must apologize profusely for the lack of updating. My muse abandoned me, and I haven't been able to write much in two years. Horrible, I know. So with my apology, I am adding another chapter, and I hope that I will be able to keep it more consistent. And I also apologize for the length. I did what I could, and this is what came out. I hope you all enjoy!_

**Chapter 7: It Just Keeps Getting Worse**

"That's the hospital there, Fox!" Crystal had quickly gotten changed into her 'can-still-look-human' clothes and had gone to ask Fox to fly her to Toronto in the helicopter. She wouldn't have hesitated in gliding the whole way, but she wanted to get to her cousin as fast as was possible.

Fox steered the helicopter towards the hospital rooftop, and just as she was landing, Crystal flung open the door. "Don't bother landing. Go find yourself a hotel, and then give me a ring on my cell phone." She jumped out of the helicopter, and dropped down the remaining ten feet. Readjusting her hat, she ran to the rooftop entrance and practically few down the stairs.

She arrived ay the fifth floor within minutes, and wasted no time in making her way to the nurses' station. "Nicole Marino. Where is she?"

The nurse looked up at the disturbance with tired eyes. "And you are?"

"Crystal DiMaggio. I'm her cousin."

Sighing, the nurse typed something into the computer. "She's in room 551; the hallway to your right."

The disguised gargoyle sped towards the room, and nearly knocked the door down in trying to open it. She was horrified at the sight that met her eyes. There were tubes and wires everywhere. Her cousin appeared to be pale, but she couldn't really tell from all the bruises that covered her face and arms, and her left eye had swollen shut. She could only imagine how many more bruises there could be that she couldn't see.

Closing the door behind her, she pulled up a chair beside the bed and sat down. _This never would have happened if I had never left. _The gargoyle grasped her cousin's hand, and let a tear escape her eye. "I'm so sorry Cole. This is all my fault."

A cough signalled the gargoyle to look up. "It's not your fault cuz. There was no way you could have stopped this from happening."

"If I hadn't left, if I hadn't given you the house, this wouldn't have happened."

There was something odd about Crystal. It sounded like the sight of her was somewhat expected. Nicole studied her cousin's face. "You dreamt this would happen, didn't you? That's why you're blaming yourself."

Crystal nodded. "Yeah, I did. Gods Cole, it killed me to see it. To make it worse, I wasn't able to wake up to call and warn you."

"Crys, how many times do I have to tell you? Just because you see it, doesn't make it your fault. Besides, how do you know it wasn't happening at the same time you were dreaming it?"

The gargoyle sighed. "I didn't think of it that way." She looked her cousin over. "So what happened exactly? The doctor wouldn't go into any details over the phone."

Nicole shifted uncomfortably. "This isn't going to be something I'm going to easily forget. I was just sitting there, watching a movie, when someone knocked on the door. Naturally, I went to open it, but when I did, I was tackled to the ground by three guys in hoods. Another three came storming in, and demanded to know where the monster was. I told them I didn't know what they were talking about, and one of the guys holding me punched me across the face. They continued to ask me questions, and I kept denying I knew anything, and so they continued to beat me." she took a deep breath to calm her shaking voice. "They told me they had tracked the monster, and found that it always came to that house. Two of the three standing went and searched the house, while the other one said they would teach me a lesson for allying myself with the enemy." She wiped the tears that were trailing down her face, and looked directly into her cousin's eyes. "They raped me, Crystal." She said, just above a whisper.

The look of pain in Crystal's eyes immediately turned into one of anger. "They did what?!"

She nodded. "Every single one of them. They each had their turn with me. And when they were done with that, they beat me until I was unconscious."

Crystal tried her hardest to make sure her eyes wouldn't glow. All they needed was a nurse to walk in and find out Crystal wasn't human. "You said they were wearing hoods."

"Yeah, blue ones. I remember that bit perfectly. They also had some kind of symbol on their clothes. It looked kinda like a 'Q'."

She knew that symbol. It was one she would never forget. "You told the cops that, right?"

"Of course I did." she coughed. "Why, do you know who did it?"

"I know the group who did it." An idea popped into her head. "How would you like to come live with me?"

Nicole's eyes widened. "You mean, live in a rich man's castle with a bunch of gargoyles?"

"Yes. I can't let you stay here anymore. I can't take the risk of you being attacked again. They'll find out you survived, and they might come after you again." _Gods know they haven__'__t given up with the clan._

She squeezed the gargoyle's hand. "You know I'll have to talk with my parents about it first."

Crystal couldn't hold back the growl from her throat. It was Nicole's parents who had convinced the rest of the family that she should be disowned. "Yeah, I know." She squeezed her hand back. _I just hope you make the right choice. _she thought. "Look, I'm gonna go to the house for a bit and check it out. See if I can salvage anything from what's left. You don't mind, do you?"

Nicole smiled and slightly shook her head. "Not at all. I'm happy you were able to make it here."

"Nothing could have stopped me from making sure you were alright." She leaned forward and gave her cousin a kiss on the cheek. "I'll visit you again tomorrow night." Giving her cousin's hand one last squeeze, she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. Walking as fast as she could, she made her way to the stairwell and raced up as fast as her legs could carry her. Sprinting across the rooftop, she flung off her sweater to reveal a red tank top and a pair of wings. Leaping off the roof, she opened her wings and caught a thermal. She wanted to get to her old house as fast as she could. If those Quarrymen were going to get what they deserved, she would first see if there was a way to do it legally. If not, she had her own way of dealing with those who crossed her.

She arrived at what remained of her former home within a short time. The garage was completely levelled, and so was the kitchen. Although she was saddened to see half her house destroyed, she was thankful that the most important half was still intact.

She landed on the remains of the garage and looked around. "Well, now I've got room for that Hummer I've always wanted." She stepped onto the blocks that had served as a wall between the garage and the house, and looked down into the hole that was the basement. Sighing, she leapt off the small wall and walked up the front steps. The front door had been knocked down, most likely by the firefighters, and there were still some pieces of the yellow police tape around. She stepped inside, and saw an area of blood on the floor; the spot where Nicole had been beaten and raped. Holding back her tears and fit of rage, she walked into the empty master bedroom and pulled out a large suitcase and a backpack from the closet. She looked into each room to find out which one was Nicole's, until she realized that her cousin had taken her old room as her own.

She couldn't help but smile. "Good ol' Cole, always taking the easy way out of moving." Not wanting to waste anymore time, she quickly began placing her cousin's clothes into the backpack, and anything of monetary and sentimental value in the suitcase.

"I was wondering when you'd make it. I was starting to worry." Fox had called Crystal shortly after she had begun packing to tell her which hotel she had checked into, and the floor number; two hours ago.

"Sorry, guess I lost track of time." she placed the suitcase on the floor and took the backpack off. Closing the balcony door behind her, she sat down heavily on the bed.

"So how's your cousin doing?"

"Nicole's fine. She's a tough one. Knowing her, she'll probably say she's ready to leave in a week."

Fox didn't know the gargoyle very well, but she could easily tell something was wrong. "Is there something bothering you Crystal?"

She sighed and hung her head. "She's in there because of me. If I hadn't given her the house, they never would have found her there."

Fox sat down on the bed and wrapped an arm around the young one's shoulders. "You didn't know this was going to happen. No one could have seen this coming. But I promise you, we'll find the ones who did this, and make sure they get what they deserve."

"They're too big of an organization, Fox. Even with Castaway still in hiding, most likely fearful of the police finding and arresting him for his attack on the clock tower, he's still giving out orders." Her voice dropped. "Still hunting the clan."

Fox pulled her arm back. "The Quarrymen did this?!"

Her eyes took on a reddish hue. "I was mad when they attacked me, but now they've gone too far!" she took a few breaths to try and calm herself. "They're gonna pay for what they did. I swear, I'll make them pay!"

"Crystal, are you even listening to yourself?! You can't take the law into your own hands."

She couldn't help but glare at the human. "Can't I? Even if this does make it to court, do you really think they'll be able to pick an unbiased jury? Gargoyles are too hot a topic to find someone that doesn't have an opinion."

The tattooed woman ignored the glare. "You know that's not true."

Crystal shook her head. "That's where you're wrong Fox. I was a third-year law student before my transformation. I know how the system works. Cole will end up being the loser in this if we go the legal way. I'm the only one that can make sure justice is served."

Fox stood up and stared down at the other woman. "You know Goliath will never allow this."

The female gargoyle copied the human's move. "Who said I was going to tell him?"

"If you won't, then I will."

"Oh no you won't." her eyes began to glow. "You won't say a word of this to Goliath, nor anyone else in the clan."

Fox actually started to feel a little fearful. There was no telling what the girl would do to her if she got in her way. "Is that a threat?"

"Merely a statement. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find a perch for the day." She opened the balcony door and stopped mid-stride. "The law is inadequate. I thought you'd know that by now." She jumped onto the rail and sailed off into the night.

Staring after her, Fox shook her head and closed the glass door. "I do, but there's still so much that you need to learn about it."


End file.
